Senator Chuck Grassley released emails between FBI agents from Operation Crossfire Hurricane, an Obama-era probe into potential Russian collusion with Trump’s campaign. Among the emails is one sent by former agent Kevin Gounaud in February 2025 proposing a criminal investigation of Elon Musk for his use of Twitter to share official government information, which Gounaud argued violated rules similar to Hillary Clinton's private email server issue. Grassley claims these documents reveal systemic bias against Trump and Republicans within the FBI and Justice Department.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-16,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released unclassified emails between FBI agents involved in Operation Crossfire Hurricane, an investigation launched during the Obama administration to examine potential collusion between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. Grassley claimed these documents, which included former FBI Special Agent Kevin Gounaud’s request to investigate Elon Musk, show that a "Deep State" was working against Trump. During an Oversight hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel, Grassley argued that previous Democrat administrations under both Obama and Biden had used secret operations to undermine the government, describing these actions as "arguably worse than Watergate." Over the past decade, the committee has released several rounds of documents from FBI operations like Operation Arctic Frost and Round River, alleging misuse of Justice Department resources against Republicans.
Written for “Trump Investigation Files” on 2026-09-17,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released a batch of unclassified emails between FBI agents stemming from Operation Crossfire Hurricane, a Justice Department investigation launched during the Obama administration into whether then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign was colluding with Russia during the 2016 election.
asserted
campaign → release → election
Grassley argued that the email exchanges, which included former FBI Special Agent Kevin Gounaud seeking to open an investigation into Elon Musk over the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), revealed that the "Deep State" was at work to undermine Trump.
asserted
State → argue → Trump
"The previous Democrat administrations under Obama and Biden conducted secret, insidious and downright evil operations that almost took down our government," Grassley said during an Oversight hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel.
asserted
Grassley → conduct → Patel
Over the past decade, the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the direction of Grassley, has released several rounds of documents from a few FBI operations such as Operation Arctic Frost and Round River, alleging that the Justice Department was being weaponized against Trump and Republicans.
asserted
Department → release → Trump
"The overall sustained efforts by the Deep State in the dark corners of the bureaucracy is worse than anything Trump has been accused of.
asserted
Trump → accuse → anything
At least he’s upfront and open so people can judge," Grassley said.
asserted
Grassley → ’ → ?
At the center of the Senate Judiciary Committee's most recent document release are three former FBI agents: Gounaud, Walter Giardina, who was fired by Patel in August over accusations of political weaponization, and Timothy Thibault.
asserted
who → fire → weaponization
Gounaud, who left the bureau in February, according to his LinkedIn, sent an email in February 2025 seeking to begin a criminal investigation of Musk.
uncertain
who → leave → Musk
At the time, Musk was a special government employee overseeing DOGE.
asserted
Musk → oversee → DOGE
Gounaud's complaint centered on Musk announcing on X his plan to have all government employees share five things they worked on that day.
asserted
they → center → things
"Musk used a non government system (twitter) to relate information that allegedly was for official purposes.
uncertain
that → use → purposes
In doing so, because he is monetized (he is a majority owner of twitter) he likely generated income for himself based on Twitter's monetization model and/or advertising revenues," Gounaud wrote.
asserted
Gounaud → do → model
Grassley later criticized the former FBI agent in a post on X.
"Here is an email I released 2day showing an FBI agent who was ready2 open a CRIMINAL CASE all bc Elon Musk asked govt bureaucrats 2 report 5 things they did in a wk," Grassley wrote.
asserted
Grassley → criticize → wk
"Compare that 2 Iowans who work frm sunup to sundown EVERY DAY Washington rlly is an island surrounded by reality."
asserted
Washington → compare → reality
The document dump also shows that Giardina emailed at least seven times over the course of four weeks beginning in January 2017 asking to be assigned to Crossfire Hurricane.
asserted
Giardina → show → Hurricane
The findings of the investigation were handed off to Special Counsel Robert Mueller a few months later in May.
uncertain
findings → hand → May
The emails show that Giardina was in correspondence with Thibault, who Grassley had accused of violating the Hatch Act.
asserted
Grassley → show → Act
The allegation, which was investigated and dismissed by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), stemmed from Thibault resharing a post on then Twitter by the Lincoln Project, which called Trump a "psychologically broken, embittered, and deeply unhappy man.
asserted
which → investigate → Trump
Thibault is included in several emails sent by Giardina to former Supervising Agent Joe Pientka.
asserted
Thibault → include → Pientka
"Based on the records known to date, that case didn’t advance," Grassley said.
asserted
Grassley → base → date
"His efforts, as well as the case he tried to open on Senator Sinema, undercut public statements by former FBI officials that agents don’t get to pick their cases."
asserted
agents → try → cases
Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI for comment.
asserted
Digital → reach → comment
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