FBI Director Kash Patel pushed back Saturday against left-wing media critics who labeled him a liar following his discovery of numerous sensitive documents linked to the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation. These documents were reportedly hidden in multiple “burn bags” stored in a secret room within the FBI.
According to sources previously speaking to Fox News Digital, the “burn bag” system is used to destroy documents marked classified or higher. Several burn bags were found, packed with thousands of documents. Among them, officials discovered the classified annex to former special counsel John Durham’s final report, which contains the intelligence he reviewed.
Patel addressed the burn bags on X, reflecting on what he exposed back in 2017 and 2018.
“In 2017/18, I proved the Steele Dossier was fictitious intelligence, weaponized by corrupt FBI officials to deceive a federal judge and unlawfully spy on then-presidential candidate Trump’s campaign – all paid for by his opponent,” the FBI director wrote. “The media called me a liar.
“Now I’m the FBI Director: We just uncovered burn bags/room filled with Russia Gate files, including the Durham annex, and declassified them,” Patel continued. “Once again, I released the prior FBI’s own documents and exposed the truth. The same media is calling me a liar again. Maybe this FBI will release more docs directly, from FBI HQ… so we can see who is lying – wouldn’t want to deprive the fake news of more bogus Pulitzers.”
The declassification of the classified annex is being coordinated closely between CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and acting National Security Agency Director William Hartman.
The declassified annex will be sent to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who will ultimately release it publicly.
In a June interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, Patel revealed he found a room full of documents and computer hard drives “that no one had ever seen or heard of.”
“Just think about this,” Patel told Rogan. “Me, as director of the FBI, the former ‘Russiagate guy,’ when I first got to the bureau, found a room that Comey and others hid from the world in the Hoover Building, full of documents and computer hard drives that no one had ever seen or heard of. Locked the key and hid access and just said, ‘No one’s ever gonna find this place.’”
Patel and his team have been reviewing the documents, some connected to sensitive investigations, including the FBI’s original Trump-Russia probe known internally as Crossfire Hurricane.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has requested information related to former special counsel John Durham’s probe. It remains unclear what the latest documents specifically cover, but sources told Fox News Digital the discovery was made in response to Grassley’s investigative request.
Patel has turned the documents over to Grassley, whose team is now reviewing the material as part of their investigation.
Durham was appointed after then-special counsel Robert Mueller completed his lengthy investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe — including alleged intelligence community misconduct during and after the 2016 election.
Patel’s staff is working to provide additional records to Congress as committees of jurisdiction request them.
