Former FBI Director Kash Patel has officially handed over a major batch of declassified documents to Congress—about 700 pages worth—all tied to the controversial “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation. This FBI-led probe, launched back in 2016, focused on now-debunked claims that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign colluded with Russia.
The newly released files, dated April 9, 2025, are part of what’s known as the “Crossfire Hurricane Redacted Binder.” They were obtained exclusively by Just the News and come on the heels of a March executive order from Trump, demanding that all remaining documents related to the investigation be made public. It’s a push Trump first attempted at the end of his first term in 2021 but was blocked by his own Justice Department at the time.
The effort to bring these documents into the light wasn’t easy. For four years, the Biden-era DOJ and FBI—led by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray—refused to release them, despite Trump’s declassification order.
Crossfire Hurricane was launched by the FBI based on shaky, unverified claims that Trump and his campaign had ties to the Russian government. Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign was also tied to the investigation, particularly through funding for the now-infamous Steele dossier—an opposition research report compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele, hired by Fusion GPS and funded through Clinton’s legal team.
In a final attempt to make the truth public, Trump had declared on January 19, 2021—his last full day in office—that the materials should be declassified “to the maximum extent possible.” He even accepted the FBI’s suggested redactions and told the DOJ to release the binder. But the DOJ didn’t follow through.
A memo from then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows made it clear: the binder was supposed to be released, pending a privacy review. Still, nothing happened—until now.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s lengthy investigation found no criminal evidence of collusion. And in a separate review, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz called out the FBI for serious mistakes, including their heavy reliance on the Steele dossier to justify surveillance on Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
Another deep dive by Special Counsel John Durham revealed that from the very beginning, neither U.S. intelligence nor law enforcement had any real proof of collusion—and the Steele dossier never held up under scrutiny.
Now that the documents are finally in Congress’s hands, the full story behind one of the most politically charged investigations in recent history may finally come to light.