Conservative legal watchdog Judicial Watch announced Friday that the FBI told a federal court in a status update recently it would take them “158 years” to process all the records from a “hidden room” in the bureau’s headquarters in Quantico.
The filing was in response to the watchdog’s Freedom of Information Act request, which asked the court to allow it to question the FBI, through a limited deposition, about its handling of the records.
The bureau said last year that it found “burn bags” in a hidden room at the headquarters, which contained classified information related to Crossfire Hurricane and other FBI inquiries into President Donald Trump and his allies.
Judicial Watch is seeking information on who discovered the room and when, who had access to it, the room’s security classification, how records ended up stored in file cabinets, safes, boxes, and burn bags, what the FBI has done to bring them under standard records management and whether the records were ever searched.
The FBI said the room also had filing cabinets and the room contained more than two million pages of records altogether. The files were separated into “legacy files,” which referred to older records mostly tied to two closed historical investigations and more recent files tied to active investigations.
The bureau said it is processing the records discovered in the room at a rate of 500 pages a month, which will take it approximately 158 years to complete.
“American citizens should be outraged that the FBI just told a federal court judge that its stonewalling means it will take 158 years to release the 2 million weaponization and lawfare records in its secret ‘burn bag’ room,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “The American people need to know today how the FBI was used as a political weapon against Donald Trump and other innocents.”
The FBI said it opposes Judicial Watch’s request for discovery and a status conference for the case is expected to take place next week.
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.
