Senator Chuck Grassley revealed the existence of the destroyed memo in a letter to the FBI seeking additional information.
The FBI under former director Christopher Wray ordered the destruction of an intelligence document alleging the Chinese Communist Party plotted to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, Senator Chuck Grassley alleged in a letter to the bureau seeking additional information about the decision.
The FBI recently turned over to Grassley an intelligence report from the FBI’s Albany Field Office alleging China plotted to interfere in the 2020 election by creating fake mail-in-ballots for Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
“Chairman Grassley is in receipt of an FBI document responsive to a request he made based on legally protected whistleblower disclosures. The document alleges serious national security concerns that need to be fully investigated by the FBI,” a spokesperson for Grassley told NR.
“Grassley is requesting additional documentation from the FBI to verify the production, and is urging the FBI to do its due diligence to investigate why the document was recalled, who recalled it and inform the American people of its findings.”
Grassley sent a letter to Patel Tuesday requesting more records to know who at the FBI ordered the destruction of the intelligence memo and why the source for it had to be re-interviewed. He is also asking Patel to provide details about the steps the FBI has taken to assess the veracity of the intelligence document’s allegations and who decided to recall the document.
“Given this, please provide all records relating to that re-interview and recall, including but not limited to all communications between and among agents and intelligence analysts,” Grassley said.
“Specifically, provide all emails between and among Intelligence Analyst Jordan Siri, Supervisory Special Agent Charles Keller, and Intelligence Analyst in Charge of the Washington Field Office Nikki Floris. In addition, please describe all investigative steps the FBI has taken, or will take, to determine the veracity of the allegations in the IIR as well as who recalled the IIR and the basis for the recall,” he added.
“Lastly, explain why the FBI under your predecessor required the original IIR to be destroyed, whether this practice is consistent with the FBI’s past and current practice, and how it comports with federal record preservation requirements.”
Just the News first reported on the document Monday. The right-wing outlet published the summer 2020 intelligence memo Tuesday.
“The FBI has located documents which detail alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election, including allegations of interference by the CCP,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on X.
“I have immediately declassified the material and turned the documents over to the Chairman Grassley for further review.”
Grassley told the FBI to deliver a response to his inquiry by July 1. He continues to conduct extensive oversight of the FBI’s actions under Wray’s leadership now that Patel is running the agency and cooperating with oversight requests.
Former President Biden narrowly defeated President Trump in the 2020 election as Democrats largely relied on mail-in-voting during the Covid-19 pandemic. Trump and his supporters have baselessly claimed the 2020 presidential election was rigged, in part because of Covid-era mail-in-voting expansion. Trump ran again in 2024 and won decisively against former Vice President Kamala Harris after Biden dropped out of the race due to his cognitive decline.