Trump Russiagate papers found in secret room, FBI director claims
Kash Patel's staff allegedly found the sensitive papers in 'burn bags' earmarked for destruction in a secret room at the FBI headquarters, Fox News reported, in the administration's latest suggestion of a deep state conspiracy.
Claims of a secret room at the Hoover Building in Washington were first made by Patel on Joe Rogan's podcast in early June.
Patel claims there is a secret room inside the J Edgar Hoover building, the FBI headquarters in Washington
ERIC LEE/GETTY IMAGES
A controversial choice to lead the US domestic security service because of his history of fanning conspiracy theories, Patel's latest claim was amplified on social media by pro-Trump voices and branded a distraction by critics.
'Apparently the 'burn bag' system is used to destroy documents designated as classified or higher,' wrote Charlie Kirk, founder of the Maga student movement Turning Point Action, on X. 'Sources confirm that the burn bags were found filled with thousands of documents. What was the FBI hiding in those bags marked for destruction?'
Patel's claims follow recent allegations of 'treason' levelled by Trump at Barack Obama and some of his senior officials for their role in initiating the inquiry into Russian election interference and links with the 2016 Trump campaign. This resulted in the Mueller report which found numerous examples of 'sweeping and systematic' Russian interference but no proof of collusion with the Trump campaign.
Obama's office called the treason allegations 'outrageous' and 'a weak attempt at distraction' at a time when the president and his team are battling criticism for failing to release all the material they have on Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender who was friends with many powerful people including Trump.
The investigation into Russian involvement in the US elections was led by Robert Mueller
AP/CAROLYN KASTER
The latest documents were reported to include a classified annex to the Durham report, the investigation into the origins of the Mueller inquiry which concluded that the FBI suffered from 'confirmation bias' in rushing ahead with its Russia investigation and that it was not merited.
Unnamed sources told Fox News that the annex showed that 'the US intelligence community had credible foreign sources indicating that the FBI would play a role in spreading the alleged Trump–Russia collusion narrative'. The foreign sources are not identified and there is no indication as to whether the information was assessed as reliable or not.
Washington seems awash with conspiracy theories this summer and Trump appeared to muddle the latest Patel claims with the swirling Epstein controversy.
Trump said on Wednesday that the Epstein files controversy was a 'scam set up by the Democrats'
REUTERS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN
During an Oval Office event on Wednesday, Trump did not understand a reporter who asked: 'Did you know Kash Patel reportedly found burn bags of Russiagate materials — I'd love to get your thoughts on that.'
Trump replied: 'He said what? … I don't know what you mean by that statement.'
The reporter clarified: 'Bags full of Russiagate documents.'
Trump then replied: 'Oh, burn bags, I thought you said 'appointed a man named Burn Bag'.'
He then seemed to give his standard response to questions about his role in the Epstein document controversy, saying: 'I want everything to be shown, as long as it is fair and reasonable … the whole thing is a scam. It is a scam set up by the Democrats … I would like to see people exposed that might be bad.'
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