Newly declassified portions of the scope memo issued to special counsel Robert Mueller in August 2017 reveal the extent of the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign shortly after the firing of then-Director James Comey.
The Justice Department on May 6 declassified portions of the Aug. 2, 2017, memo by then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in response to a request from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Portions of the memo had already been made public in 2018 as part of the special counsel’s prosecution of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The details revealed in 2018 showed that Rosenstein tasked the special counsel with investigating the allegations that were within the scope of the FBI’s Trump campaign probe at the time of Mueller’s appointment on May 17, 2017.
The new details beneath the previously blacked-out portions of the memo show that the FBI was still investigating allegations against Trump campaign associate Carter Page in May 2017, which were part of the infamous Steele dossier. At the time, the bureau had already been aware for months that the dossier was likely tainted with Russian disinformation, and had also already learned that Page was a source for the CIA and had briefed the agency about his contacts with Russians.
While some of the news coverage of the newly declassified details appears to fault Rosenstein for tasking Mueller with investigating the claims from the shoddy dossier, the memo makes it clear the listed allegations were part of the FBI probe that the special counsel was taking over. The integrity of the investigation would likely have been questioned if Rosenstein had acted to limit the scope.
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