On Tuesday, former President Donald J. Trump signed an extensive presidential memorandum demanding the immediate declassification of all FBI records linked to the controversial Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Trump, now the 47th president, has consistently criticized the probe as politically driven and corrupt.
White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf announced the decision and presented the memo for Trump’s approval. The order instructs federal agencies to disclose all documents related to the FBI’s 2016 investigation into alleged connections between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials—a case that many opponents have condemned as a clear misuse of government authority.
Trump called the investigation “total weaponization” and a “disgrace,” emphasizing that such an event had never occurred in the country before. “But now you’ll be able to see for yourselves, all declassified,” he added.
Scharf confirmed that the memorandum covers “all FBI files,” with the exception of certain classified materials in a separate annex. “Other than that, this will put everything in the public eye,” he stated.
The president did not hold back in criticizing federal law enforcement agencies. “The FBI should be ashamed of themselves, and so should the Department of Justice, and so should Biden,” Trump told reporters. He also took a jab at the media, suggesting they might avoid reading the documents because they “won’t like what [they] see.”
The Crossfire Hurricane investigation, launched in July 2016 under the Obama administration, became a central part of a long-running narrative promoted by Democrats and mainstream media, alleging that Trump had colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
However, that claim unraveled when the Mueller report found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy. Further investigations, including the Durham probe, exposed serious misconduct, misleading statements, and reliance on unreliable sources to justify surveillance on Trump campaign officials.
During the same meeting, President Trump also announced a pardon for Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden who later became a whistleblower. Archer had testified before Congress about the Biden family’s foreign business dealings but had previously been convicted in a securities fraud case.
Scharf suggested that Archer’s legal troubles intensified after he began cooperating with congressional investigators and publicly connecting Hunter Biden to questionable international deals. “The tone and tenor of that prosecution changed dramatically,” Scharf told Trump, adding that they viewed the case as an injustice.
Trump agreed with the assessment, saying, “He was treated very unfairly. I looked at the records, studied the records—and he was a victim of a crime, as far as I’m concerned.”
As he signed the pardon, Trump added a lighthearted remark: “Congratulations, Devon.”
Both actions—the complete declassification of what Trump has repeatedly called a “witch hunt” and the pardon of a man who helped uncover possible corruption involving the Biden family—highlight the bold stance of Trump’s newly inaugurated administration.
Archer is widely recognized for his role at Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company where he and Hunter Biden joined the board around 2014. His business ties with Hunter have placed him at the center of controversy, amid allegations that the Biden family used political influence for financial gain.
These matters gained significant attention during congressional investigations, particularly among House Republicans looking into potential influence-peddling by the Biden family.
In 2023, Archer provided closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee, revealing that Hunter Biden would sometimes put his father on speakerphone during business meetings to impress clients.
