FBI documents unsealed on Thursday showed that disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok allegedly intervened to keep the FBI’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn open after the investigation was reportedly due to close over a lack of “derogatory” evidence.
The FBI, which was probing as part of their “Crossfire Hurricane” (CH) investigation whether Flynn and other individuals connected to the Trump campaign were connected to Russia, stated in a January 4, 2017, memo that there was no reason to continue investigating Flynn, who was given the code name “crossfire razor.”
The FBI and one other unidentified government agency searched through their databases on Flynn and could not find any “derogatory” information on him, which led to the bureau stating that it was closing the case.
“Following the compilation of the above information, the CH team determined that CROSSFIRE RAZOR was no longer a viable candidate as part of the larger CROSSFIRE HURRICANE umbrella case,” the FBI’s memo stated. “The FBI is closing this investigation. If new information is identified or reported to the FBI regarding the activities of CROSSFIRE RAZOR, the FBI will consider reopening the investigation if warranted.”
On the same day that the FBI indicated that it was closing the investigation into Flynn, Strzok, who was later fired from the FBI over his anti-Trump text messages to FBI agent and alleged lover Lisa Page, reportedly wrote to the FBI case manager that they were not to close the case.
Fox News Editor Gregg Re reported:
Yet, on that same day — Jan. 4, 2017 — Strzok instructed the FBI case manager handling CROSSFIRE RAZOR to keep the investigation open. “Hey don’t close RAZOR,” Strzok texted an unidentified individual.
Strzok informed the FBI case manager that the FBI’s 7th floor was involved, referring to FBI leadership — and that they still “need to decide what to do with him [with respect to] the [REDACTED].”
It’s currently unknown why Strzok directed the FBI case manager to keep the Flynn investigation open. However, the timing of emails between Strzok and ex-FBI lawyer Lisa Page seem to suggest that they used the Logan Act to keep CROSSFIRE RAZOR alive; Strzok forwarded a 14-page research paper on the Logan Act the same day.
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