Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., released the transcript of former top FBI official Bill Priestap on Tuesday, the latest in a flurry of disclosures by the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking member.
The transcript is from Priestap’s private interview in front of a joint session of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees on June 5, 2018.
“The American people deserve transparency. They deserve to know what transpired in the highest levels of the FBI at the origin of the probe of President Trump’s campaign,” Collins said as he requested the transcript be placed on record.
Priestap, the former assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, played a significant role in overseeing both the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and her handling of classified information, as well as the FBI’s investigation into allegations that President Trump and Trump campaign associates were colluding with the Russian government during the 2016 election.
No charges were filed against Clinton and the special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report, according to a summary by Attorney General William Barr, stated “the Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
[Related: Trump: Lisa Page transcripts show Obama’s DOJ was ‘broken and corrupt’]
Due to the nature of Priestap’s work as a high-ranking FBI counterintelligence official, Collins stated that some information from the interview had been redacted. “Out of an abundance of caution, this transcript has a limited number of narrowly tailored redactions, relating only to confidential sources and methods, non-public information about ongoing investigations, and non-material personal information,” he said.
Priestap was set to retire at the end of 2018, making him yet another high-ranking FBI official involved in both the Clinton investigation and the Trump-Russia investigation to either be fired or to leave the Bureau. Former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and former FBI special agent Peter Strzok were all fired.
“Thus far I have released five transcripts of interviews from the Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the apparent wrongdoing at the FBI and Justice Department. Today, I am releasing a sixth,” Collins said.
In recent weeks, Collins released transcripts of the congressional interviews of former FBI agent Peter Strzok, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, his wife Nellie Ohr, and former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos.
[Also read: Nellie Ohr met Christopher Steele at Mayflower Hotel the day before FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation began]
“I will continue to work to release as many transcripts as possible. The American people deserve the truth,” Collins said.
