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WASHINGTON Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate JudiciaryCommittee, took the FBI to task and is demanding records relating to the searchwarrant execution at the home of Project Veritas founder James OKeefe andagainst other employees.

TheDepartments heavy-handed treatment of Project Veritas is notably differentfrom the kid-glove and deferential treatment given to Hillary Clinton and herstaff during its investigation into her mishandling of highly classifiedinformation, Grassley wrote.

Giventhe brazen and inconsistent standards employed by the Department [of Justice]against Project Veritas, Grassley is asking for all records relating to theFBIs compliance with relevant regulations and procedures governing the acquisitionof Project Veritas information in light of the privileged and whistleblowerinformation at issue, as well as copies of all search warrants and supportingdocumentation.

Followingthe publication of information from apparently privileged documents by the NewYork Times, the senator asks whether the FBI or Justice Department has openedany leak investigations.

Finally,Grassley presses the FBI and Justice Department to explain the two systems ofjustice embodied by the difference in approaches toward Project Veritas and subjectsin prior investigations, specifically the Clinton investigation.

November 17, 2021

VIA ELECTRONICTRANSMISSION

TheHonorable Merrick Garland

AttorneyGeneral

Departmentof Justice

TheHonorable Christopher Wray

Director

FederalBureau of Investigation

DearAttorney General Garland and Director Wray:

OnNovember 6, 2021, the FBI executed a search warrant and raided the home ofJames OKeefe, the founder of Project Veritas, relating to the alleged theft ofAshley Bidens diary. During the course of the dawn raid, the FBI seized cellphones and began extracting data that could have included donor information,privileged communications with lawyers and confidential whistleblowers withingovernment. In light of the governments conduct, the District Court for theSouthern District of New York temporarily halted the governments search whileconsidering whether to appoint a Special Master to ensure privileged andconfidential information is protected from improper government access.

Specifically,the letters only permitted the FBI to review email archives within a limiteddate range, June 1, 2014, and before February 1, 2015, and so long as thoseemails were sent or received from Secretary Clintons four email addressesduring her tenure as Secretary of State.

Theletters also provided that the FBI would destroy any records which it retrievedthat were not turned over to the investigatory team. Further, the lettersmemorialized the FBIs agreement to destroy the laptops that contained theinformation to be searched. This arrangement is simply astonishing given thelikelihood that evidence on the laptops were of interest to congressionalinvestigators.

Basedon reports, the Department has clearly treated these two fact patterns muchdifferently. On the one hand with respect to Project Veritas an organizationthat the Department has said is subject to the federal governmentsinvestigative power in limited circumstances and under careful scrutiny the Departmentand FBI have engaged the heavy hand of the federal government against it. Thisis in contrast to the Clinton investigation, where the Department and FBIproceeded with the softest touch possible even though the individuals underscrutiny werent journalists and the matter involved mishandling of highlyclassified national security information. Moreover, during the Clintoninvestigation, the governments search of records was subject to extensivecommunications between private counsel and government counsel to determine inadvance of any review the scope of the information to be searched, whichstands in stark contrast to the governments reported treatment against ProjectVeritas.

Thereported fact pattern appears to implicate the Department and the FBI, yetagain, in serious wrongdoing. It is critical that Department or FBI employeeswho participated in any misconduct in this case are not able to escapeaccountability, further underscoring the need for testimonial subpoenaauthority in light of the general practice of employees resigning before theycan be interviewed.

Giventhe brazen and inconsistent standards employed by the Department againstProject Veritas and in order to better understand the Departments and FBIsdecision-making process in this matter, please answer the following no laterthan December 1, 2021:

2.Pleaseprovide all search warrants and supporting documentation used to searchcellphones and for physical searches of the homes of Project Veritas employees.

3.Hasthe Department or FBI opened any leak investigation(s) with respect to theprovision of records from the case to the news media? If not, why not?

4.Withrespect to the way the Department and FBI handled the Clinton investigation andProject Veritas, please explain why the Department and FBI did not affordProject Veritas the same treatment that it afforded Cheryl Mills and HeatherSamuelson.

Thankyou for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

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Grassley Demands Answers in DOJ's and FBI's Heavy-Handed Targeting of Project Veritas Personnel - Senator Chuck Grassley