Grassley says he will continue investigations of DOJ, FBI ‘political weaponization’ against Trump

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley told reporters this week he is committed to investigating the “political weaponization” of the state’s justice systems by members of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over indictments of President Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, Justice Department officials said former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under investigation for potential wrongdoing related to Trump investigations, with the possibility for prosecution in the future, Fox News reported.

In a weekly news call Wednesday, Grassley declined to weigh in on whether Justice officials had committed crimes related to the Trump-Russia probe or other actions investigating the president.

“I can’t say that the wrongdoing I have pointed out so far, it’s more in the area of political weaponization of the FBI and the Department of Justice, and I can’t say it rose to the criminal level,” Grassley said. “But evidently the Department of Justice has reason to believe that crime has been committed, and I’ll have to defer to them. That’s their job, not mine. My focus is on transparency and accountability for the American people.”

Brennan said in a Wednesday MSNBC interview that he has not been contacted by the DOJ or CIA about the investigation, but said he believed the action was politically motivated.

“I think this is, unfortunately, a very sad and tragic example of the continued politicization of the intelligence community, of the national security process,” Brennan said. “And quite frankly, I’m really shocked that, you know, individuals are willing to sacrifice their reputations, their credibility, their decency to continue to do Donald Trump’s bidding on something that clearly is just politically based.”

The Iowa Republican reiterated his commitment as the Senate Judiciary chair to following up on justice officials involved in Trump’s federal indictments that occurred during former President Joe Biden’s administration. Trump was charged in 2023 by the Justice Department under the Biden administration in two cases. He faced four felony counts related to fraud and obstruction of justice for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results that spurred the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and a 37-count indictment for keeping classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House.

These cases were dismissed, and later dropped in November 2024 after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.

Grassley has repeatedly said he plans to investigate the misuse of power and federal authority by Justice officials against Trump, in both the indictment cases as well as actions taken on issues like the Russia probe during his first term in office. Speaking at the Iowa State Fairgrounds ahead of Trump’s appearance July 3, Grassley said of the DOJ and FBI, “everybody who had anything to do since President Trump went down that golden elevator in 2015 have been trying to get him out of the presidency, or when he was out of the presidency, into prison.”

“So we’re getting some whistleblowers their jobs back,” Grassley said at the event. “We are releasing documents.”

Grassley told reporters he wants to get “justice for the whistleblowers” who were fired or disciplined because they contacted him about their concerns about the actions taken regarding Trump, in addition to bringing more transparency to what occurred in these cases and investigations by releasing documents.

The longtime Republican senator said he is working with Justice officials in the Trump administration on these issues.

“I’ve had the cooperation of the FBI and the Department of Justice in doing this in ways that I’ve never had, even under previous Republican administrations,” Grassley said. “And because of what you might call the administrative state and the fact that they don’t want to give out information that may be embarrassing to them. So maybe the people that I’m trying to embarrass now aren’t in government anymore, but the American people need to know what was covered up and I’m trying to uncover it.”

Grassley and the Senate Judiciary Committee have taken some actions on these cases in recent months. In early June, Grassley released a declassified internal FBI analysis from 2019 raising allegations against Nellie Ohr, who was involved in compiling information for Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI counterintelligence investigation into alleged ties between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

The declassified document alleged Ohr had provided false information in her testimony before Congress when she said she did not have knowledge of an ongoing DOJ investigation into Trump. Ohr worked as a contractor for Fusion GPS, the firm hired by 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee to conduct political opposition research, and is married to Bruce Ohr, a former DOJ official.

“(Nellie) Ohr never suffered consequences for advancing the phony Trump-Russia narrative and attempting to cover up her involvement in the hoax,” Grassley said in a news release on the document. “Yet time and again, the American justice system has been weaponized against President Trump and his associates with reckless abandon.”

In May, Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, requested records from the National Archives and Records Administration related to the Trump election interference and alleged mishandling of classified information cases, as well as earlier investigations that led to these charges. Grassley and Johnston had previously released whistleblower reports on FBI investigations into Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.

“The documents we have released show a politically-driven conspiracy that began at the hands of a group of anti-Trump FBI officials who worked closely with Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors in an investigation known as ‘Arctic Frost,'” the senators wrote. “… We are seeking additional records from your offices on this matter pursuant to our ongoing investigation.”