The other day Senator Chuck Grassley released a file called 'Nellie Ohr FBI Analysis,' related to Fusion GPS, which in part accused of Ohr of misleading the public. For instance, this is one analysis of the document:
Remember Nellie Ohr, the Fusion GPS operative whose DOJ official Bruce was deeply involved in the Russian collusion hoax?
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 28, 2025
According to FBI documenta obtained by Charles Grassley, she lied to Congress about what she was up to, including her ham radio activities. pic.twitter.com/RztOPPqNcG
Indeed, Davis linked to that document, here:
Read the full FBI documents here. https://t.co/UuAdT21b1y
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 28, 2025
But Professor Margot Cleveland noted a deeper problem revealed by the document and it’s a doozy. We’ll let her explain:
🧵🧵🧵Recent release by Sen. @ChuckGrassley suggests systemic violations of Brady by FBI. Brady rule requires government to disclose exculpatory evidence in criminal case; to comply, FBI agents search Sentinel system. Brady mandate is considered a constitutional requirement. 1/
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
Now, to do a little bit of ‘lawsplaining’ to translate from legalese to English … Brady refers to Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), which held that under the Due Process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, a criminal defendant has a right to any exculpatory evidence in the government’s possession. 'Exculpatory evidence' refers to any evidence that tends to show that a person is innocent of any crime the person is accused of committing or mitigating the severity of it.
To give a practical example, remember the Duke Lacrosse non-rape case? In that case, several members of the Duke Lacrosse team were accused of gang raping a woman at a particular time. Later on, it turned out that one of accused was on camera at an ATM at the time he was allegedly committing the crime, and when that came to light, the charges completely fell apart—all of the accused were exonerated. But without Brady (or a similar state rule), the government could have attempted to cover up that footage and might have even potentially convicted these innocent men of the crime.
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2/ But according to FBI Wash. Field Office EC sent to SC Office on 9/18/19, Sentinel system includes "invisible files" that can't just not read, but that you don't even know exist-files identified as "Prohibited Access" files, NOT to be confused w/ Restricted Access files.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
3/ Here's how EC explained "Prohibited Access" files, versus Restricted Access. According to this FBI Agent, then, when you search Sentinel for various terms, if the files are coded "Prohibited Access," search will show NO responsive documents. pic.twitter.com/FBKQKIzyzt
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
Here are those two images, blown up.
4/ In contrast, when things are coded "Restricted Access," a search will show hits but the FBI agent without the proper clearance/authority cannot view the document.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
Got that? So they can use the Sentinel system to search for documents, and if it is merely labeled ‘Restricted Access’ then the hit will come back as indicating that there is a relevant hit, but the person cannot access the document.
But if it is ‘Prohibited Access,’ the document won’t register a hit in word searches. You don't even know what you are not seeing.
So for instance, imagine if you are a defendant in the Governor Whitmer ‘fednapping’ case. So you reasonably request any documents related to Whitmer. An FBI agent would be required to search through Sentinel and review every document mentioning Whitmer to see if there is any exculpatory evidence in each. If the search says that there are restricted access documents, then that agent is at least on notice that there are documents with information about Whitmer in it that he or she doesn’t have access. Then that agent can either work with supervisors to get access to those documents, or have someone with the appropriate clearance look at those documents and see if any of them are responsive. But if one doesn’t even get a hit on the search engine, then how can you take that next step?
Mind you, we are not sure that any of the defendants in that case were denied access to exculpatory evidence that way. We are simply inventing a hypothetical for illustrative purposes.
5/ Washington Field Office FBI agent's EC noted that May 30, 2019 (day after SC Mueller resigned), SC's office provided FBI agent Bruce Ohr's redacted FD-302s but asked for unredacted versions which were in "Prohibited Access" holdings. pic.twitter.com/IT0RNgqJxZ
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
6/ EC adds SC Team said most "but not all" documents "had been migrated from Prohibited status to Restricted Access status, . . ." SIGNIFICANTLY, though, "investigators would (and do) remain incapable of identifying potentially relevant serials" in "Prohibited Access" status. pic.twitter.com/EEbsKkQjK0
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
7/ That paragraph CONFIRMS two different systems, with Restricted Access you can't view document but you know it exists, while Prohibited Access, you don't even know there is a document--it is invisible.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
8/ This paragraph confirms the point: The Washington Field Office agent can tell there are 70 documents in the Restricted Access system that include the search term "Berkowitz," but cannot know how many more are in "Prohibited Access" because the Sentinel system will not show any… pic.twitter.com/P8Ry1R92ul
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
Since some of the text is cut off, here’s the entire post:
This paragraph confirms the point: The Washington Field Office agent can tell there are 70 documents in the Restricted Access system that include the search term ‘Berkowitz,’ but cannot know how many more are in ‘Prohibited Access’ because the Sentinel system will not show any ‘hits’ if the documents are in Prohibited Access.
10/ FBI's maintenance of "Prohibited Access" files that DO NOT SHOW UP IN SEARCH REQUESTS in Sentinel means agents pulling Brady material to comply WITH THE CONSTITUTION, will not even know there are potentially exculpatory materials they should be providing.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
12/ This isn't me saying that...it is an FBI agent saying that in an EC sent to the Post Special Counsel's Office AND THAT EC WAS APPROVED BY THREE SUPERVISORS! pic.twitter.com/IIM4ghiuxf
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
14/ This scandal is no longer about Trump or the corruption of the Russia-collusion hoax investigators--it calls into question the way the FBI handles documents that it is legally and sometimes constitutionally required to turn over, via FOIA, Congressional investigation, Brady,
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
16/16 Did Durham & the IG search for "Prohibited Access" documents? Why note? Did Post Special Counsel Mueller ever provide the Washington Field office the documents related to Nellie Ohr & search Prohibited Access?
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
17/ Here is how the DOJ's IG describes "Prohibited Access." pic.twitter.com/iRAY1HvnQe
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
That's frankly my reaction!
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
Jay Town, which is not a town, but a man who says he is …
VP & General Counsel, @Gray_Analytics. Former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama (2017-2020). Career prosecutor. Marine. Proud dad & husband
… said this in response to Cleveland’s thread:
I just found reference to it in a footnote in an unrelated IG report (on misconduct.) Any FBI agents (current or former) want to weigh in on whether you ever used that/how you were trained on it/how you searched for responsive documents? pic.twitter.com/h28tY9sUlH
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 30, 2025
Sentinel was implemented Bureau wide in 2012.
— Jay Town (@JayTownAlabama) May 31, 2025
Bob Mueller was the FBI Director.
In 2013 (and in the years following), Sentinel had many upgrades to “access controls”, such as Prohibited access.
Guess who was the FBI Director then? pic.twitter.com/r579VS5nVR
You can’t see this right now, but we are making our shocked face.
But in all seriousness, this is not only a serious scandal, it could end up upending a large number of criminal case. Some innocent people will go free and some guilty people will ask for a new trial, just to hope to get a different outcome. How many will belong in either category is anyone’s guess.
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