Grassley Demands Answers from FBI Over Clinton Whistleblower Raid
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman grills FBI Director Wray for info on Dennis Cain raid
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has demanded information from FBI Director Christopher Wray on the raid that the bureau conducted at the home of Clinton Foundation and Uranium One whistleblower Dennis Cain last month.
The FBI raided recognized Justice Department informant Cain's home on November 19 after he gave up "dirt" on the Clintons.
Cain was previously employed as an FBI contractor and reportedly turned over documents to the DoJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz regarding the bureau’s failure to investigate potential criminal activity regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The "dirt" that Cain was in possession of also reportedly implicated the Clinton Foundation in criminal actions along with the Russian company that purchased Uranium One.
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According to the Daily Caller, Horowitz subsequently deemed Cain a whistleblower protected under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, Cain’s lawyer, Michael Socarras, told TheDCNF.
Grassley sent a letter to Wray on Nov. 30 asking pointed questions about the raid on Cain’s private residence in Union Bridge, Maryland.
The Iowa Republican sent a separate letter to Horowitz on Nov. 30 seeking Cain’s documents and citing TheDCNF’s reporting.
Cain told the special agent leading the raid that he was protected as a whistleblower, but the agent still ordered 15 additional agents to raid Cain’s home, according to Socarras. The agents searched for six hours while Cain, terrified, sat in the living room.
Cain meticulously followed government procedures for whistleblowers under the act by handing the classified documents over to the IG, according to Socarras.
Horowitz sent a top-level official to personally hand-deliver them to the Senate and House intelligence committee.
Grassley in his letter, which also cites TheDCNF’s reporting, asked Wray if “the FBI consider[s] Mr. Cain’s disclosures to be protected.”
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The whistleblower act protects federal employees who disclose classified documents to the proper authorities, which includes the IG.
Grassley further asked Wray if the FBI was “aware at the time of the raid that Mr. Cain had made what appeared to be lawful disclosures to the Inspector General?
"If so, was the FBI aware that these disclosures were passed to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, per the [act]?”
Grassley also asked Wray of “the basis” for there raid and to provide a copy of the original warrant and all supporting documents.
The raid on Cain’s house was permitted by a court order issued by federal magistrate Stephanie A. Gallagher in the U.S. District Court of Maryland for Baltimore.
The court order and all the documents justifying the raid are sealed and not available for public viewing.
On Nov. 30, TheDCNF requested that Gallagher unseal the affidavit and any other documents that served to justify the raid.
The court has not yet responded to TheDCNF.
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.
