The classified documents case against former President Donald Trump “reeks” of the FBI’s infamous Russia collusion investigation, a top official in his administration said on Sunday.
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe made the comparison to Crossfire Hurricane while speaking to Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo.
Alluding to special counsel Jack Smith’s team conceding last week that documents seized by the FBI may have become jumbled despite previously saying otherwise, Ratcliffe suggested there was evidence tampering.
“What Jack Smith admitted in court this week was that, in his words, they mishandled the classified documents and misrepresented those to the court,” Ratcliffe said during his “Sunday Morning Futures” appearance.
Ratcliffe contended that prosecutors got “caught” when Trump’s lawyers and the other co-defendants raised the issue of scanned copies not matching up with the records of when they were taken from Mar-a-Lago in 2022.
Smith has “absolutely blown the chain of custody,” Ratcliffe emphasized.
Ratcliffe went on to say the classified documents case “reeks of Crossfire Hurricane, when the Obama-Biden administration fabricated evidence before the FISA court, lied to the court about it to pursue Donald Trump.”
He was referring to the FBI’s use of an unverified dossier that raised allegations of collusion between Trump and Russia to obtain the authority to wiretap Carter Page, who served as an aide to Trumps’ 2016 campaign.
“And now we’re seeing it again in this classified documents case. The judge could dismiss this case at any point in time, Maria,” Ratcliffe said.
He surmised the judge has not done so yet in order to let the public “see just how this case is being prosecuted, how unfairly Donald Trump has been persecuted in this matter by Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.”
Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges in the documents cases and three other criminal matters as he seeks re-election, similarly reacted to Smith’s filing in Florida by claiming there was evidence tampering.
“These deeply Illegal actions by the Politicized ‘Persecutors’ mandate that this whole Witch Hunt be DROPPED IMMEDIATELY. END THE ‘BOXES HOAXES.’ MAGA2024!” he said in a post to his Truth Social platform.