Declassified: FBI Tried to Use Briefings to Spy on President Trump

White House memos declassified under a Freedom of Information request and published by Judicial Watch on July 16 show that the Federal Bureau of Investigation tried to use White House briefings to spy on United States President Donald Trump and his aides. And the fbi tried to hide its investigation into his election.

During the afternoon and evening of January 19, one day before Mr. Trump was inaugurated, a “frantic exchange” of nine e-mails passed between Peter Strzok, then director of the fbi, and at least six other fbi officials, whose names have been redacted. The e-mails shed some light on a conspiracy to manipulate the contents of President Trump’s daily briefings.

All nine e-mails were sent between 3:30 in the afternoon and 8:00 in the evening. At one point, an unnamed fbi official wrote, “Here’s what we have to discuss asap,” followed by a large redaction. Strzok responded that he had “briefed” Bill Priestap, then assistant-director of fbi counterintelligence operations. He discussed a “timeline” and stated that “approval by tomorrow afternoon [January 20] is the request.”

In all likelihood, the redacted text contained information about the counterintelligence briefing President Trump was supposed to receive the following day. This is proved likelier by an e-mail Strzok sent two days later.

On January 21, only 24 hours after Donald Trump received his first briefing as president, Strzok wrote to Priestap, chiding him for failing to provide advance warning of what the president was being told. He wrote:

I am angry that [Jennifer Boone, who conducted the briefing] did not at least cc: me, as my branch has pending investigative matters there. This brief may play into our investigative strategy, and I would like the ability to have visibility and provide thoughts/counsel to you in advance of the briefing. This is one of the reasons why I raised the issue of lanes/responsibilities that I did when you asked her to handle [White House] detailee interaction.

Strzok was not the one providing the briefing; he “heard from [redacted] about the [White House counterintelligence] briefing.”

Clearly, the fbi wanted to ensure the president’s counterintelligence briefings did not include anything about Crossfire Hurricane, the ongoing and baseless investigation of the Trump campaign and Gen. Michael Flynn.

Not only did the fbi try to hide the investigation from Mr. Trump, but Strzok’s message that a brief “may play into our investigative strategy” indicates he was scheming to deceptively use the daily White House briefings as a secret interrogation of the president. If Strzok could manipulate the briefings in a way that would get the president to talk about Russia, his responses could be relayed back to the fbi investigators and used against the president in the illegal investigation that was being illegally hidden from him.

Strzok wasn’t the first one to use so-called friendly, routine presidential interactions to spy on and interrogate Mr. Trump. Then fbi director James Comey used his office to give Trump so-called defensive briefings. On Jan. 6, 2017, for example, Comey lied to the president-elect that he wasn’t being investigated and then selectively briefed him on parts of the Steele dossier. After the briefing, Comey hurriedly jotted down the conversation in a memo to be used later as evidence in the investigation about Mr. Trump’s interactions with Russia. Comey successfully interrogated Trump without ever disclosing he was being investigated.

Instead of trying to help inform the new president of the United States, the Obama-era holdovers jeopardized national security by deceiving the president and using vital interactions like intelligence briefings to spy on him.

“It’s unbelievable this kind of stuff was going on,” said Fred Fleitz, chief of staff to National Security Adviser John Bolton. “He has to be able to ask difficult questions. You want him and his aides to ask hypotheticals during the briefings as they get up to speed. But if those questions are going to be leaked back to investigators, the president is not going to talk to the experts.” He said that the memos show that Obama-era holdovers “used every element of the domestic intelligence services to destroy this president.”

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, noted that despite the release of these e-mails, much is still being withheld. The fbi processes 500 pages of e-mails every month, and then decides which to declassify; however, the fbi possesses about 8,000 pages in total. And almost none of the texts between Strzok and his paramour Lisa Page have been released. When e-mails are released, they are heavily redacted.

Despite the fbi’s efforts to slow-walk the release of information, there is already an abundance of evidence that entrenched anti-Trump government employees targeted the president before, during and after his inauguration.

“Since Donald Trump became president, a dangerous level of corruption has been exposed in America’s federal government,” wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry in the August 2019 Trumpet issue. “Officials within several powerful government agencies have worked actively to sabotage Mr. Trump and overturn the results of the 2016 presidential election. This is treasonous behavior, and a bigger threat to America than most people realize!”

Do you realize the threat posed by unelected bureaucrats willing to sacrifice the rule of law to pursue their agenda? If so, what will stop them? Is there any hope that the president will be able to overcome their efforts?

President Trump’s administration has taken a stand against the radical left. Much remains to be done, and no charges have yet been brought against those who conspired against the president, but Bible prophecy indicates that the president will, to some extent, gain greater control of his government.

President Trump has fought to reverse the damage caused by the radical left, whose goal is to “blot out the name of Israel” (2 Kings 14:26-27). We prove America’s prophetic identity in our book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, by Herbert W. Armstrong. Once this identity is understood, the Bible’s prophecies take on direct meaning for the United States—especially in today’s hostile political environment.

Anciently, King Jeroboam ii of Israel stopped his nation’s enemies from blotting out the name of Israel—but only temporarily. The account in 2 Kings 14 is a prophecy about the brief resurgence America is now experiencing under President Trump. The Bible shows that this resurgence will not last long, even if the president is elected for another term in November. Just as Israel soon fell to the Assyrians, America faces social and economic collapse followed by a military invasion if it fails to repent. The Bible says this will be the worst time of suffering ever to strike any nation.

The good news is that this suffering, too, will be temporary.

If rule of law, fair elections, and preserving America’s freedom are subjects that matter to you, read our booklet Great Again, by Gerald Flurry. It explains the real reasons for America’s trouble with the radical left. It tells why the nation is experiencing a temporary resurgence. And it shows how after the nation suffers, it will become great again, permanently.