FBI Director Kash Patel has uncovered what sources describe as a bombshell discovery: thousands of sensitive documents tied to the Trump–Russia investigation, stashed away in so-called “burn bags” typically used for shredding classified materials inside a secret chamber at FBI headquarters.
Multiple sources said the documents include previously hidden files related to Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s original Trump–Russia probe.
One of the most explosive finds? A classified annex to former special counsel John Durham’s final report a document containing the raw intelligence Durham reviewed while investigating the origins of the collusion narrative.
The Hidden Annex and High-Level Declassification
That annex, once sealed tight, is now being declassified in coordination with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and acting NSA Director William Hartman.
The final declassified version is expected to land in the hands of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who will then release it to the public.
Sources briefed on its contents say the annex contains foreign intelligence warning before the FBI even launched its Trump–Russia probe that elements within the bureau might be preparing to help propagate a false narrative of Trump collusion with Moscow.
“It may not have been exactly clear in the moment what the intelligence collection meant, but with the benefit of hindsight, it predicted the FBI’s next move with alarming specificity,” one source told.
“Ultimately, the release of the classified annex will lend more credibility to the assertion that there was a coordinated plan inside the U.S. government to help the Clinton campaign stir up controversy connecting Trump to Russia,” the source added.
Patel: “No One Had Ever Seen or Heard of” the Room
The shocking discovery came to light publicly during Patel’s June appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, where he described stumbling upon the long-hidden room packed with documents and hard drives.
“Just think about this,” Patel said. “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.’”
Sources say Patel’s team is now sorting the documents, many of which touch directly on Crossfire Hurricane the controversial investigation launched in July 2016 into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Grassley Now Has the Files
Following the discovery, Patel has turned over the trove to Sen. Chuck Grassley, whose office had requested further information related to Durham’s yearslong probe into intelligence community conduct before and after the 2016 election.
Grassley’s team is now combing through the material as part of its own investigative work. More documents are expected to be handed over to Congress in response to oversight inquiries.
Patel’s Crucial Role in Unraveling Russiagate
Patel has long been central to exposing flaws in the government’s handling of the Trump–Russia saga. He previously served as chief investigator under Rep. Devin Nunes on the House Intelligence Committee, where he helped uncover surveillance abuses that led to not one but two special counsel appointments Robert Mueller and John Durham.
“While most members of Congress were ready to ignore the unprecedented civil rights abuses against the Trump campaign and myself, Kash Patel’s training as a top public defender made him the perfect advocate for exposing one of the greatest election interference scandals of all time,” said former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
It was Patel who helped author the now-famous 2018 Nunes memo, which revealed that the Steele dossier funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign through law firm Perkins Coie and research firm Fusion GPS was the foundation for FBI surveillance of Page.
The Steele Dossier and FISA Scandal
The memo exposed that the FBI failed to disclose the political origins of the dossier to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and leaned heavily on its unverified claims to secure spy warrants not just once, but four times.
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s closed-door testimony was cited in the memo: “No surveillance warrant would have been sought” without the dossier information.
James Comey, Rod Rosenstein, Sally Yates, and other top officials all signed off on those warrants. Steele, the ex-British spy behind the dossier, was later cut off as an FBI source for leaking to the media a breach the FBI labeled one of the most serious.
Nunes: “Kash Helped Expose Them Anyway”
Despite being targeted himself during the congressional investigation with DOJ subpoenas secretly collecting Patel’s emails and phone data Patel pushed forward.
“Kash was instrumental in unraveling the Russia collusion hoax and finding evidence of government malfeasance despite constant attempts by the FBI and DOJ to stonewall our investigation,” Nunes said earlier this year.
“The feds spied on Kash during the probe and ran information warfare against him, but Kash helped expose them anyway,” Nunes added.
Now, Criminal Investigations Into Brennan and Comey
With new evidence emerging, Patel has now opened criminal investigations into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey. That includes a criminal referral from Ratcliffe concerning Brennan’s alleged role in manufacturing intelligence that implicated Russia in the 2016 election.
“Mere days after this intelligence was collected, the FBI launched Crossfire Hurricane,” a source noted. “It’s really hard to see how Brennan, Clapper and Comey are going to be able to explain this away.”
With Grassley preparing to release the declassified annex and Congress digging into newly unearthed documents, the next chapter in the Russia probe fallout appears far from over.
