Trey Gowdy alleges FBI was unfair to Trump campaign in briefing on foreign intelligence threats

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump did not get an equal opportunity warning from the FBI on foreign interference during the 2016 campaign, according to Trey Gowdy.

In an appearance on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, the former Republican lawmaker claimed that the FBI was unfair to the Trump campaign in its “defensive briefing” on how to handle foreign intelligence threats. The alleged disparity is significant given the allegations of collusion that eventually dogged Trump’s presidency.

“Two different briefings”

In October 2017, Gregory Bower, assistant director of the FBI’s Office of Congressional Affairs, wrote to then-Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) that Trump’s campaign was briefed in August of 2016 by an “experienced FBI counter-intelligence agent” on foreign intelligence threats and that Clinton’s campaign received a “similar” briefing.

But according to Gowdy, that wasn’t the case. The South Carolina Republican has claimed in recent weeks that he changed his mind on Robert Mueller’s probe after viewing a mysterious “game-changer” transcript — believed to be of conversations between FBI informants and George Papadopoulos — that Gowdy says is exculpatory of the Trump campaign.

Speaking with Maria Bartiromo on Sunday, Gowdy was discussing the mysterious transcript when he claimed that the FBI gave “two different kinds” of defensive briefings to the Trump and Clinton campaigns. For Gowdy, the FBI’s allegedly unfair defensive briefing is part of a concerning pattern of omission by FBI officials.

“When you give two different kinds of defensive briefings, depending on who you like and who you don’t, then your bias begins to impact the investigation,” Gowdy said.

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Gowdy’s claim fits within what Republicans allege is a wider pattern of abuse by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI in their handling of the counter-intelligence investigation of the Trump campaign. Republicans have long alleged that top intelligence officials who managed the Trump-Russia collusion investigation, including former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI agent Peter Strzok, were guided by political prejudice against Trump.

According to Republican John Ratcliffe (TX), Trump’s defensive briefing was organized by Strzok. But the agent reportedly did not make any mention of the fact that he had already opened an investigation into Trump’s campaign over contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians, nor did he warn the Trump campaign about possible overtures by Russian officials to coordinate with Trump campaign members.

Changing the game

And according to Gowdy, the FBI’s bias doesn’t end there. In recent appearances on Bartiromo’s show, Gowdy mentioned that he had seen a “game-changer” transcript when he was in Congress that, if publicized, could potentially “persuade people” to view Mueller’s probe differently, like it did for him.

Gowdy has claimed that the FBI did not share the “exculpatory” transcripts with the FISA court when the bureau sought warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to spy on Trump campaign aide Carter Page. This omission convinced Gowdy that there was some heavy-handed dealing involved in Mueller’s probe, turning him against his characteristic “let the cards fall where they may” ethos in support of it.

“I was supportive of Mueller,” Gowdy said Sunday, “but when I saw this transcript, it actually changed my perspective.” He went on:

You want to think of law enforcement as being unbiased and disinterested in the outcome as long as we just find the facts. But when you have information that someone you think has done something wrong has, in fact, not done something wrong, when you have exculpatory information and you don’t share it with others, and you put that together with Strzok and [Lisa] Page and the defensive briefings — remember, Maria, the defense of Comey and the media and the Democrats have always been, yeah, some of the FBI was biased against Trump, and it didn’t really matter. This really matters.

The FBI has claimed that Papadopoulos’ interactions with Russians were the basis for its counter-intelligence probe, but Republicans have alleged that the infamous Russia dossier played a significant — but undisclosed — role in sparking the investigation.

For his part, President Trump has granted Attorney General William Barr sweeping authority to declassify documents related to the FBI’s investigation as Barr looks to review of the origins of the Russia probe.