Senior DOJ Officials Didn’t Know Database Allowed FBI To Bury Existence Of Russiagate Documents
People familiar with the investigation into the Russia collusion hoax told The Federalist that senior officials did not know the FBI case management database, Sentinel, allowed agents to conceal the existence of evidence. Nor did anyone from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office mention that documents related to the investigation into the Trump campaign had been rendered invisible by use of the “Prohibited Access” coding in Sentinel — even though they knew the Department of Justice was investigating the origins and handling of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
On Monday, a former political appointee at the DOJ expressed surprise that no one from Special Counsel Mueller’s team mentioned the “Prohibited Access” functionality of Sentinel to senior officials. This news follows last week’s release by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, of a recently declassified FBI report that revealed that Special Counsel Mueller’s office used a “Prohibited Access” restriction during the Trump/Russia-collusion investigation.
As The Federalist detailed earlier today, the “Prohibited Access” coding in the FBI’s Sentinel case management system, “precludes investigators from detecting the existence of potentially relevant serials.” “In other words,” according to the just-released FBI report, “when search terms that exist in the Prohibited Access-status cases are searched in Sentinel, the particular search will receive a false-negative Sentinel search response.”
This contrasts with FBI documents categorized in Sentinel as “Restricted Access.” While that restriction prevents FBI agents from viewing the contents of “Restricted Access” files, Sentinel will nonetheless show there are hits for the search terms. Other investigators will thus know that potentially relevant evidence exists. Not so with the “Prohibited Access” code, which will leave other FBI wrongly believing there are no responsive documents.
That senior officials overseeing the investigation into the origins and handling of Crossfire Hurricane did not know of the “Prohibited Access” coding, and that Mueller’s special counsel office used that functionality to render invisible materials connected to the investigation into President Trump, is scandalous. Now in question is the entirety of Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into the Russia-collusion hoaxers, as well as Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation into FISA abuse related to Carter Page.
Whether Special Counsel Durham and Inspector General Horowitz obtained access to all relevant evidence related to the Crossfire Hurricane conspiracy to interfere in both President Trump’s 2020 election and his first administration now remains in doubt — and will until FBI Director Kash Patel reveals the extent to which the get-Trump faction buried evidence of their malfeasance.
Margot Cleveland is an investigative journalist and legal analyst and serves as The Federalist’s senior legal correspondent. Margot’s work has been published at The Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator, the New Criterion, National Review Online, Townhall.com, the Daily Signal, USA Today, and the Detroit Free Press. She is also a regular guest on nationally syndicated radio programs and on Fox News, Fox Business, and Newsmax. Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize—the law school’s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. Cleveland is also of counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland where you can read more about her greatest accomplishments—her dear husband and dear son. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.
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