April 26, 2018

CREW sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the FBI today calling for the release of all records pertaining to an investigation of the source that leaked information to Rudy Giuliani in October 2016, days before FBI Director James Comey’s announcement that the FBI was reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. Comey announced the investigation on October 28, 2016 in a letter to Congress on the basis that new information had been found but not yet examined by the FBI.

Two days before Comey’s letter announcing the reopening of the investigation, Giuliani appeared on Fox News and gave a statement indicating he was given information that had not been yet made public regarding the Clinton probe.

“I do think that all of these revelations about Hillary Clinton finally are beginning to have an impact,” he said on the October 26 program. “He’s got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next two days.”

These comments prompted an investigation to determine whether an FBI employee leaked information to Giuliani, to be used for political reasons. Any leak of this nature could be in clear violation of the Privacy Act and the Hatch Act, and therefore deserves further review.

The possibility that members of a federal agency secretly provided information to a private citizen for political reasons is extremely troubling and contrary to law. There is a significant public interest in these records, especially given the frequent allegations of bias in the FBI among the president and his supporters, and since Giuliani became counsel for President Trump.

Read the FOIA request here.