More Docs of Involvement By ‘Anonymous’ Author In Crossfire Hurricane Sought

Two Republican Senate chairmen have asked Attorney General William Barr to declassify documents relating to a former Department of Homeland Security official who anonymously admitted trying to thwart President Donald Trump’s policy agenda and his connection to the prosecution of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate finance committee, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the chairman of the Senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs, sent a letter to Barr on Friday in response to the Justice Department’s declassification of documents in relation to the FBI and CIA’s “Crossfire Hurricane” probe.

The investigation became Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and allegations of conspiracy with Russian government to influence the election. It found no evidence of any collusion.

Grassley and Johnson noted the name of Miles Taylor, 33, in the declassified documents as having been interviewed by the FBI and that prompting a possible interview of former CIA Director James Woolsey.

Taylor wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times in 2018 under the byline “Anonymous” in which described how he was actively to undermine Trump’s agenda.

“We believe that further declassification is appropriate at this time because, among other factors, the Inspector General’s review of Crossfire Hurricane is closed; the investigation has already been the subject of years of oversight, public hearings, and document productions; and there is a strong public interest in knowing and understanding what really transpired between and among federal government officials relating to Crossfire Hurricane,” Grassley and Johnson wrote.

Flynn was prosecuted for lying to the FBI about contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a conversation the agency already knew the contents of. Flynn eventually pleaded guilty, but then sought to withdraw his plea. The Department of Justice sought to dismiss the case although Federal District Judge Emmett Sullivan has refused to allow the case to be dropped despite being ordered to do so by an appeals court.