President Donald Trump has ordered the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which consumed much of his first term, to be declassified and made available to the public.
“This was total weaponization. It’s a disgrace, should never happen in this country,” Trump said before signing a presidential memorandum declassifying the information. “But now you’ll [the media] be able to see for yourselves, all declassified.”
President Trump signs a Presidential Memorandum requiring the immediate declassification of all FBI files relating to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation pic.twitter.com/5BdF6PBNna
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 25, 2025
Trump joked that the press probably wouldn’t check out the documents “because you’re not going to like what you see,” but nonetheless celebrated the move as a final triumph over critics who connected his 2016 campaign to Russia.
Crossfire Hurricane was the code name given to an FBI investigation that began in July 2016, when Trump was still a candidate, looking at his campaign’s possible ties to Russia. That effort sparked Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation in 2017, which consumed Washington for two more years before it concluded in March 2019.
“Is anybody going to look,” Trump asked while gesturing to members of the media. “Frankly, the FBI should be ashamed of themselves, and so should the Department of Justice. And so should [former President Joe] Biden.”
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As a result of the controversy, Crossfire Hurricane was later investigated by John Durham, then the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Trump’s team has long maintained that Crossfire Hurricane was a blatant example of weaponized law enforcement used against the president.
