[TheFederalist] Breadcrumbs dropped last month by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, based on whistleblower reporting suggest FBI Special Agent Walter Giardina — a mainstay in the numerous get-Trump deep-state efforts — may have engaged not merely in misconduct, but potentially illegal activity.In a March 15, 2026 letter to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, Grassley excerpted claims of misconduct allegedly undertaken by multiple members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team. The Iowa senator had obtained a copy of a FD-302 interview summary that detailed the allegations, including claims that the government improperly sought to renew a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance order on former Trump campaign advisor Walid Phares.
According to Grassley’s letter, the agent interviewed for the FD-302 was involved in the Crosswind investigation, which was a subpart of Crossfire Hurricane. The Crosswind investigation reportedly focused on whether Phares violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Phares told RealClearInvestigations that the CIA issued a report in 2016 containing false allegations that he had accepted "a $10 million bribe from the Egyptian government intended for the Trump campaign during a meeting in Cairo."
The FD-302 released last month details an FBI agent’s claim that a battle erupted in Special Counsel Mueller’s office concerning whether the team should seek a third renewal of the FISA warrant to surveil Phares. Then-FBI agent Andre Khoury said "No," adding, according to the FD-302, that "they were getting all of the information they needed from interviews with the target of the investigation who was cooperating and providing everything they needed." The FBI report continued by noting that Khoury said that FISA surveillance "would not give us anything more and there was nothing in the past FISA that aided the investigation other than to prove the Target was being honest with investigators."
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Walter Giardina 10/26/2019 Secret Fisa Court Finding Concludes Fbi Used Secret Foreign Surveillance Tool To Spy On Americans, Wall Street Journal Reports