President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a broad presidential memorandum directing the immediate declassification of all FBI files related to the controversial Crossfire Hurricane investigation—a probe he has repeatedly described as politically motivated and corrupt.
White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf announced that he presented the memo for Trump’s signature. The directive requires federal agencies to release all documents tied to the FBI’s 2016 investigation into alleged connections between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian officials—an inquiry that many critics have labeled as a flagrant abuse of governmental power. “This was total weaponization,” Trump said. “It’s a disgrace. It never happened in this country. But now you’ll be able to see for yourselves, all declassified.”
Scharf confirmed that the memorandum includes “all FBI files,” noting that the only remaining classified materials involve a separate annex. “Other than that, this will put everything in the public eye,” he said. Meanwhile, Trump had hard words for the agents who took part in the hoax. “The FBI should be ashamed of themselves, and so should the Department of Justice, and so should Biden,” Trump said to the media. “You probably won’t bother [to read them] because you’re not going to like what you see.”
The Crossfire Hurricane investigation, launched in July 2016 under the Obama administration, became a focal point of a long-standing narrative by Democrats and mainstream media, alleging that Trump colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. This narrative unraveled when the Mueller report failed to uncover evidence of a criminal conspiracy, and further investigations, including the Durham inquiry, exposed significant misconduct, misrepresentations, and reliance on discredited sources to justify surveillance of Trump campaign officials.
During the same meeting, President Trump also granted a pardon to Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business associate and whistleblower. Archer, who had testified before Congress regarding the Biden family’s foreign business dealings, was previously convicted in a securities fraud case.
White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf noted that Archer’s prosecution took a drastic turn once he began cooperating with congressional investigators and publicly connecting Hunter Biden to controversial overseas ventures. “The tone and tenor of that prosecution changed dramatically,” Scharf told the president. “We believe that was an injustice.” Trump agreed, stating, “He was treated very unfairly. I looked at the records, studied the records—and he was a victim of a crime, as far as I’m concerned.” Signing the pardon, Trump joked, “Congratulations, Devon.”
