On May 16, 2017, the FBI took one of the most extraordinary steps in its history: It opened a full investigation of the sitting American president. 

Newly declassified documents released by the White House say the bureau asked whether the president “is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with” Vladimir Putin’s Russia — and whether he “obstructed and/or conspired to obstruct” the FBI’s own investigation. 

That the FBI had targeted President Trump was reported in 2019. What was missing was the paperwork — the opening document, the names on it, the chain of command. 

The May 16 “opening communication” lists FBI General Counsel James Baker and Counterintelligence Division Assistant Director E.W. “Bill” Priestap as the approving officials.

The investigation was opened at Priestap’s direction, in consultation with Baker’s Office of General Counsel; and Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe personally notified Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. 

The next day — May 17 — Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller special counsel, and the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax took flight. 

James Comey figures in the hoax, too. He went from fired FBI director to a central witness.

The FBI used Comey’s account of his talks with Trump — and Trump’s firing of Comey — to support the obstruction theory. 

Another critical layer has now been exposed. The FBI says its predicate for the probe rested on “predetermined criteria established by the Crossfire Hurricane investigative team” based on an assessment of supposedly “reliable lead information.” 

Who built that predicate?

Peter Strzok, a central figure in Crossfire Hurricane, and FBI lawyer Lisa Page were close to the investigation.

When Page asked whether Trump would become president, Strzok replied: “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it.”

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz later said that message was not merely indicative of a biased state of mind but implied a willingness to take official action to affect a candidate’s electoral prospects.

Yet the actual drafter of the opening communication remains redacted. That name should be released. 

So should the names of everyone who formulated, reviewed or supplied the “reliable lead information” used to put a sitting president under investigation — along with the communications among Priestap, Baker, McCabe and the investigative team, McCabe’s record of what he told Rosenstein, what Rosenstein knew before he appointed Mueller and what Mueller did, if anything, to independently validate the extraordinary allegation he was tasked to investigate. 

Here is the startling contradiction. Horowitz concluded the FBI had enough — under its relatively low investigative threshold — to open Crossfire Hurricane in July 2016. But that investigation targeted four Trump campaign associates: George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn.  

The newly declassified document reveals a far graver step 10 months later: a full investigation of whether the sitting president himself was directed by, controlled by, or coordinating with Russia. What evidence justified that extraordinary escalation? 

That question is especially urgent given what Horowitz later uncovered: 17 significant inaccuracies and omissions in the four FISA applications targeting Carter Page.

Those defects made the case for probable cause look stronger than it was.

The FISA court itself said it understood the government to have concluded that two surveillance authorizations “were not valid.” 

We know how this hoax ended: Mueller’s investigation, his report concluded, “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government.”

Nor did it substantiate the explosive claim that President Trump was directed or controlled by Russia. 

It’s past time to put those who built and ran this Russia hoax under the microscope.

Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Senate Judiciary Committee and Chairman Jim Jordan’s House Judiciary Committee hold the tools; Grassley has been a bulldog, Jordan far less so. 

Subpoena Priestap, Baker, McCabe, Rosenstein and Comey for sworn, public testimony.

Strzok and Page sat inside Crossfire Hurricane and should account for how the investigative predicate developed. 

Get down to the working-agent level. Stephen Somma — the “Case Agent 1” faulted for the Carter Page FISA errors — along with the FBI’s Joseph Pientka and, above all, Walter Giardina, could reveal the hoax’s inner workings. 

FBI whistleblowers allege Giardina (who was also involved in prosecuting me) was an initial recipient of the Steele dossier, falsely represented that it had been corroborated and later wiped the laptop assigned to him while working for Mueller, apparently violating established record-preservation procedures. 

The officials who set the Russia hoax in motion and carried it forward have names. 

Now put them under oath. And do it before the November election. 

Peter Navarro is assistant to the president and senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.