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Oversight Project chief counsel Kyle Brosnan agreed, saying early weakness inside the DOJ allowed entrenched bureaucrats to weaponize federal law enforcement against political opponents.
“You didn’t have people with the strong backbone in political leadership at the Justice Department and intelligence community early on in Trump 1.0,” Brosnan told reporters. “I think you saw a paralysis of political leadership that weren’t really willing to call a spade a spade for what was obviously weaponized or deep-state actors.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi has since vowed to clean house and rebuild trust inside the DOJ after years of politicized investigations. Working with her, FBI Director Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe have already begun declassifying records exposing how the Russia probe was pushed forward — and how other cases were intentionally buried.
One name repeatedly highlighted in the documents is Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). The longtime Trump critic built his career claiming there was “overwhelming evidence” of collusion between Trump and Russia. But FBI interview notes — known as 302s — now show that as early as 2017, a Democratic whistleblower told agents that Schiff instructed his staff to leak damaging information about Trump. Even worse, the whistleblower claimed Schiff reassured aides he was untouchable.
Despite multiple FBI interviews and even testimony from a Republican staffer backing up the allegations, the DOJ declined to bring charges. Schiff never faced accountability.
The documents also shed new light on the leaks that forced National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to resign in early 2017. Intelligence agencies had intercepted his call with Russia’s ambassador, then his name was “unmasked” in classified transcripts. Declassified records later revealed that more than 160 Obama-era officials — including Samantha Power, John Brennan, and James Comey — requested access to Flynn’s identity.
The FBI spent years investigating the leak but ultimately dropped the case in 2020, claiming too many people had access to find the source. Flynn was charged with lying to the FBI but was later pardoned by Trump.
A similar story unfolded with the Clinton Foundation investigation. By 2015, multiple FBI field offices were digging into whether Hillary Clinton used her role as secretary of state to reward major donors. By 2016, DOJ leaders consolidated the cases — then quietly shut them down.
Even a recorded conversation from a cooperating witness — something agents believed strengthened the case — was dismissed as “worthless hearsay.”
Meanwhile, the Russia investigation pressed forward on much shakier evidence, a move later condemned in Special Counsel John Durham’s 2023 report.
Now, Trump-era officials argue the newly declassified records reveal systemic bias at the highest levels of law enforcement. Current investigations are probing whether the FBI and DOJ were deliberately weaponized against Trump beginning in 2016.
Some cases could face statute of limitations hurdles. But as Dunagan pointed out, that should not stop investigators, especially if they can prove a coordinated conspiracy that extended for years.
