The following is from Sen. Chuck Grassley.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is following up on recent revelations in a declassified FBI analysis he released, exposing the agency for placing certain Crossfire Hurricane files under “Prohibited Access” status—potentially preventing most FBI agents, Congress, and the Inspector General from accessing some records.
Grassley is demanding Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel search for and produce all records related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Biden family that may currently be under “Prohibited” or “Restricted” Access.
“As I’m sure you are aware, the impact of parking records in a way that impedes, or in some cases prevents, responsive records from being produced to Congress pursuant to a valid request and during the course of court litigation, whether criminal or civil, is wide-ranging and potentially catastrophic to constitutional requirements,” Grassley wrote to Bondi and Patel. “Indeed, if the FBI has failed to take steps in the past to access records in ‘Restricted’ or ‘Prohibited’ status, the FBI has not fully responded to many years of my oversight requests.”
Grassley is also seeking records relating to current and former Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI officials who may have committed serious misconduct by mishandling and destroying federal records—particularly related to Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation into the now-discredited Trump-Russia hoax.
According to Freedom of Information Act disclosures, former Mueller team member Andrew Weissman deleted all of the data on his government phone multiple times over the course of the Mueller investigation.
Additionally, whistleblowers allege the following of Special Agent (SA) Walter Giardina, who played a significant role in the investigation and prosecution of Trump advisor Peter Navarro, as well as Arctic Frost, Crossfire Hurricane, Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation, and the Dan Scavino, Roger Stone, and Hillary Clinton cases:
- SA Giardina was an initial recipient of the Steele Dossier and falsely said that the report was corroborated as true.
- SA Giardina stated openly his animosity toward President Trump and made known his personal motivation to investigate Trump.
- SA Giardina electronically wiped the laptop he was assigned while working for Special Counsel Mueller outside of established protocol for record preservation, raising the possibility that he destroyed government records. The destruction of the laptop was reported to the DOJ Office of Inspector General.
- SA Giardina instructed agents to use false Emolument Clause predication on President Trump to “dig around.”
- SA Giardina was a case agent assigned to the Crimson River case, later changed to Red Maasari. This case was leaked, by whom it is not known, to the Washington Post in August 2024—roughly 90 days before the presidential election—in an attempt to falsely discredit President Trump.
Read Grassley’s full letter to Bondi and Patel here or below.
June 5, 2025
VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
The Honorable Pamela Bondi
Attorney General
Department of Justice
The Honorable Kash Patel
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Dear Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel:
On March 28, 2025, I made public an internal FBI analysis that I obtained via legally protected whistleblower disclosures that noted some Special Counsel Mueller records were hidden in “Prohibited Access” status. The FBI analysis further noted that unlike “Restricted Access” status, “when search terms that exist in the Prohibited Access-status cases are searched in Sentinel, the particular search will receive a false-negative Sentinel search response.”
As I’m sure you are aware, the impact of parking records in a way that impedes, or in some cases prevents, responsive records from being produced to Congress pursuant to a valid request and during the course of court litigation, whether criminal or civil, is wide-ranging and potentially catastrophic to constitutional requirements. Indeed, if the FBI has failed to take steps in the past to access records in “Restricted” or “Prohibited” status, the FBI has not fully responded to many years of my oversight requests. For example, I raised concerns about “Restricted Access” records in a July 25, 2022, letter to the Biden DOJ and FBI, which stated in relevant part:
Second, it has been alleged that in September 2020, investigators from the same FBI HQ team were in communication with FBI agents responsible for the Hunter Biden information targeted by Auten’s assessment. The FBI HQ team’s investigators placed their findings with respect to whether reporting was disinformation in a restricted access sub-file reviewable only by the particular agents responsible for uncovering the specific information. This is problematic because it does not allow for proper oversight and opens the door to improper influence.
Accordingly, as two initial requests, I want to know (1) whether any Special Counsel Mueller records are in Restricted or Prohibited status and, if so, produce those records to me and (2) whether any Biden family records are in Restricted or Prohibited status and, if so, produce those records to me.
Further, on April 29, 2025, I sent a letter to you highlighting the political weaponization by the FBI against Peter Navarro. In that letter I made public FBI emails regarding the investigation and later prosecution of Navarro. These communications provide a behind-the-scenes snapshot of some of the actions taken by the FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO) to investigate Navarro for contempt of Congress and obstruction. The emails show that Special Agent (SA) Walter Giardina played a significant role in the investigation and ultimate prosecution of Navarro. My office has also been informed that SA Giardina was involved in Arctic Frost, Crossfire Hurricane, Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation (for which he received an award), as well as the Dan Scavino, Roger Stone, and Hillary Clinton cases.
In this letter, I’m also raising legally protected whistleblower allegations regarding SA Giardina’s misconduct while on the taxpayers’ dime that ought to be investigated to determine their truth and veracity. If the allegations are true, he and everyone else involved must be held accountable. With respect to allegations of misconduct against SA Giardina, based on legally protected whistleblower disclosures to my office, he was allegedly involved in the following:
- SA Giardina was an initial recipient of the Steele Dossier and falsely said that the dossier was corroborated as true.
- SA Giardina stated openly his animosity toward President Trump and made known his personal motivation to investigate Trump.
- SA Giardina electronically wiped the laptop he was assigned while working for Special Counsel Mueller outside of established protocol for record preservation, raising the possibility that he destroyed government records. The destruction of the laptop was reported to the DOJ Office of Inspector General (OIG).
- SA Giardina instructed agents to use false Emolument Clause predication on President Trump to “dig around.”
- SA Giardina was a case agent assigned to the Crimson River case, later changed to Red Maasari. This case was leaked, by whom it is not known, to the Washington Post in August 2024—roughly 90 days before the presidential election—in an attempt to falsely discredit President Trump.
The allegations against SA Giardina regarding his potential mishandling and destruction of federal records is consistent with a Justice Department Freedom of Information Act release suggesting that multiple members of Special Counsel Mueller’s team may have destroyed federal records.
Thus, it appears that not only did Special Counsel Mueller’s team park federal records in “Prohibited Access” status making them unreviewable, his team also destroyed federal records.
For example, one Mueller team member, Andrew Weissmann, appears to have deleted all of the data on his government phone more than once. On March 8, 2018, records show that Weissmann “[e]ntered [his] password too many times and wiped his phone.” On September 27, another report reads, “AAW accidentally wiped cell phone – data lost.” On two occasions, officials admitted to deleting data, and multiple individuals stated that the phone automatically wiped the data after they used the wrong password too many times.
Based on information provided to my and Senator Johnson’s office, in June 2019, which was shortly after the Special Counsel Office’s (SCO) closure, the Department’s Justice Management Division (JMD) took possession of 79 of 96 phones in an official property transfer from the SCO. Of those, it appears that 74 SCO phones were reviewed for official records and these records, including notes and text messages, were sent to DOJ or FBI systems for preservation. Thus, not all the phones were subject to record preservation.
Moreover, based on a May 11, 2021, letter from the DOJ OIG sent after that office began its review, JMD informed the DOJ OIG that of the 96 phones assigned to the SCO, JMD could not account for the location of 59 SCO phones at that time.
It appears that Special Counsel Mueller’s team may have deleted federal records that could be key to better understanding their decision-making process as they pursued their partisan investigation and wrote their report. Moreover, the number of times and the stated reasons for the deletions calls into question whether it was a widespread intentional effort. And finally, the Mueller team’s use of “Prohibited Access” status to park federal records raises questions about whether a full analysis of their work, as well as of the underlying records, has been done.
No later than June 20, 2025, I request that you answer and produce the following in advance of future transcribed interviews of the below individuals:
- How many FBI serials are in Prohibited Access status?
- Are any Special Counsel Mueller records still in Restricted or Prohibited Access status?
- Produce all Special Counsel Mueller records in Restricted and Prohibited Access status.
- Did SA Giardina or Andrew Weissmann place any records in Restricted or Prohibited Access status? How was the determination made to do so and what internal controls exist to ensure records are produced to Congress and during the course of court proceedings? Did any other members of Special Counsel Mueller’s team do so? If so, who?
- Are any records relating to investigations into the Biden family in Restricted or Prohibited Access status?
- Produce all Biden family records in Restricted and Prohibited Access status.
- Provide all records, to include all emails and text messages from classified and unclassified systems, relating to SA Giardina’s involvement in the aforementioned cases.
- Provide all inventory and property records relating to all devices assigned to and used by Mueller’s team. Provide all records referring or relating to the destruction of records by personnel on the Mueller team.
- Provide all inventory and property records relating to all devices assigned to and used by SA Giardina as part of his assignment to Mueller’s team. This request includes all communications from and to SA Giardina relating to his requirement to preserve federal records.
- All records relating to allegations that SA Giardina destroyed, modified, or altered in any way, any device and/or federal record during his time on the Mueller team.
- Provide all inventory and property records relating to all devices assigned to and used by Andrew Weissmann as part of his assignment to Mueller’s team. This request includes all communications from and to Andrew Weissmann relating to his requirement to preserve federal records.
- All records relating to allegations that Andrew Weissmann destroyed, modified, or altered in any way, any device and/or federal record during his time on the Mueller team. This request includes all communications from and to Andrew Weissmann relating to him “wiping his phone” causing government data to be lost.
In keeping with the requirements of Executive Order 13526, if any of the responsive documents do contain classified information, please segregate all unclassified material within the classified documents, provide all unclassified information directly to me, and provide a classified addendum to the Office of Senate Security. Although the Committee complies with all laws and regulations governing the handling of classified information, it is not bound, absent its prior agreement, by any handling restrictions.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Should you have any questions, please contact my committee staff at 202-224-5225.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Grassley
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
cc:
The Honorable Michael Horowitz
Inspector General
Department of Justice
Thank you very much for this and for all that you do for the citizens of the United States
Time for Accountability: Real Oversight May Finally Be Coming to the FBI
For too long, many Americans have watched a troubling pattern unfold within some of our most powerful institutions—one where evidence disappears, political enemies are targeted, and accountability seems optional for those in power.
The FBI, in particular, appears to have operated without meaningful oversight. A prime example is the conduct of Andrew Weissmann and his team during the Mueller investigation. Despite credible reports that multiple phones belonging to team members were wiped clean—sometimes repeatedly—there’s been no real accountability. The response to this alleged destruction of potential evidence has too often been a shrug and a joke: “Oops, we did it again.”
This kind of behavior seems to follow a familiar playbook—one that many associate with partisan Democrats. They publicly champion the phrase “no one is above the law,” yet too often appear to act as if the law doesn’t apply to them. Consider Hillary Clinton’s use of BleachBit to erase 32,000 subpoenaed emails, including classified material. No charges were ever filed. Or the January 6 Committee, where crucial exculpatory evidence reportedly vanished, and document passwords were conveniently “lost.”
This isn’t just hypocrisy—it’s corrosive to public trust. The pattern is clear: investigate political opponents aggressively, and when inconvenient facts emerge, make the evidence disappear.
Taxpayers are rightly fed up. We deserve a government that plays by the rules, not one that bends or breaks them when politically expedient.
That’s why the efforts of Senator Chuck Grassley deserve real recognition. At a time when oversight is sorely needed, he continues to push for transparency, accountability, and integrity in government. His persistence and respect for the law stand in stark contrast to the misconduct he’s trying to expose.
Thank you, Senator Grassley. Keep going—your work is more vital than ever.