The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday opened a formal investigation into why the FBI snooped on two Republican House Intelligence Committee staffers during the height of the Russia collusion probe, suggesting the seizure of their private email and records may have been retaliation for the panel’s efforts to expose bureau misconduct.
The letter from Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to FBI Director Christopher Wray was prompted by reporting in Just the News and the New York Post revealing that Kash Patel, the chief investigator on then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ team, had his email seized from Google back in late 2017, just before the release of a report that identified significant failures and abuses in the Russia collusion scandal.
Patel and a second unnamed committee investigator were not notified until 2022, five years after the seizure, Just the News reported.