A secret operation discrediting the bureau's own Biden corruption sources.
Three separate document drops from the White House Government Transparency Task Force this month show a full criminal probe opened on a sitting president over thin evidence, a secret operation discrediting the bureau's own Biden corruption sources, and a dropped case against a congressman linked to a suspected Chinese intelligence operative.
'Oxferd Comma': A Sitting President Treated as a Russian Asset
The first release, on Aug. 5, exposed an FBI criminal investigation codenamed “Oxferd Comma,” opened in May 2017 within days of President Trump firing then-FBI Director James Comey. The bureau's own predicate document alleged Trump “may be or has been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved in activities for or on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation.”
According to the declassified files, the FBI's own evidence at the time undercut that theory: agents had already found problems with the Steele dossier, cleared former national security adviser Michael Flynn of collusion, and had information indicating Trump campaign adviser Carter Page had previously served as a CIA operational contact rather than a Russian asset. A text message from then-agent Peter Strzok to FBI lawyer Lisa Page said there was "no big there, there."
One FBI agent who worked the related Flynn investigation, William Barnett, later told investigators that colleagues joked about turning the collusion investigation into a game they called “Collusion Clue,” in which investigators could pair any person with any activity and interpret it as evidence. The Oxferd Comma case was later folded into Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
'Round River': Discrediting Its Own Sources on Biden
A second release, on Aug. 12, detailed a separate counterintelligence operation codenamed “Round River,” launched after the Russia collusion investigation wound down. According to task force chairman John Solomon, the operation sorted people connected to the Hunter Biden-Burisma corruption story into two categories: Democrats — including Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and George Soros — labeled “targets” of Russian disinformation, and the people investigating the Bidens — including then-Attorney General Bill Barr, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, Rep. Jim Jordan, Fox News and Solomon himself — branded “conduits” spreading it.
Solomon said the FBI had at least 14 confidential human sources who reported derogatory information about Joe Biden, and that FBI analysts working on Round River marked some of that intelligence as Russian disinformation in an effort to discredit it. He called the operation essentially a reverse version of the Trump-Russia collusion investigation.
The Swalwell File: Sex, Interns and a Dropped Case
The most recent release, Monday, covered a 2014 FBI investigation codenamed “Freshman Fifteen” into then-Rep. Eric Swalwell's relationship with Christine “Fang Fang” Fang, a Chinese national the FBI's own files describe as having parents who were “known MSS intelligence officers” — a reference to China's Ministry of State Security.
The files show Swalwell admitted to FBI agents that he had "physical relations with Fang" on multiple occasions, that his staff placed interns she referred in his campaign and congressional offices, and that agents traced 2013 straw donations through conduits back to Fang herself. The FBI had also, before opening that case, tried to recruit Fang as a confidential source under the codename “Rusty Thumbs” using an undercover front company — an effort that ended just days before the corruption investigation began. On Feb. 8, 2017, the FBI dropped Swalwell as a subject and narrowed the case to Fang alone. No federal charges were ever filed against Swalwell, and the Justice Department declined to prosecute Fang after she fled to China around 2015.
Foreign Preference Isn't the Same as Domestic Guilt
A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee review did affirm that Russia sought to influence the 2016 election in Trump's favor, and defenders of the original investigation point to that finding as justification for opening it. But a foreign government's stated or perceived preference for a candidate is not evidence that the candidate or campaign did anything wrong — Russia, like any hostile foreign power, can prefer any outcome for reasons that have nothing to do with the preferred candidate's conduct, including reasons designed purely to sow chaos. What the Horowitz and Durham findings, and now these newly declassified files, actually document is a separate and more concrete question: whether U.S. law enforcement had a legitimate, evidence-based basis to investigate an American campaign and, later, a sitting president. On that question, the declassified record shows agents moving forward despite internally acknowledging weak or contradictory evidence.
The Task Force Behind the Releases
All three releases came from the White House Government Transparency Task Force, chaired by longtime investigative journalist John Solomon, who took leave as editor in chief of Just the News to lead the effort. The documents were declassified by President Trump and White House Counsel David Warrington. Separately, America First Legal has sued the National Archives and the Justice Department on Solomon's behalf, alleging both agencies have unlawfully withheld additional declassified Crossfire Hurricane records he was designated to receive.
Sources:
WhiteHouse.gov — FBI Secretly Opened Probe Alleging Trump Fired Comey Because He Was a Russian Asset
Washington Examiner — 'Oxferd Comma' Investigation Being Declassified, With John Solomon Briefing
Power Line — More Russiagate Revelations
RedState — Bombshell Docs Expose Secret FBI Biden Op (Operation Round River)
America News Nation — Trump-Declassified Documents Reveal Secret FBI Operation Targeting Biden Corruption Claims
Just the News — Exposing Round River
Just the News — FBI Had Evidence Swalwell Got Illegal Donations From Suspected Chinese Spy
WLT Report — Declassified FBI Files Reveal What Agents Found In Eric Swalwell's Fang Fang Probe
America First Legal — Lawsuit on Behalf of John Solomon Against NARA and DOJ
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