THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

January 20, 2021

MEMORANDUM FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

FROM: The Chief of Staff MAb

SUBJECT: Privacy Act Review of Certain Declassified
Materials Related to the FBI's Crossfire
Hurricane Investigation

By Memorandum dated January 19, 2021, the President
declassified certain materials related the Federal Bureau of
Investigation’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation. The
President's Memorandum specifically stated: “My decision to
declassify materials within the binder is subject to the limits
identified above and does not extend to materials that must be
protected from disclosure pursuant to orders of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court and. doesnot require the
disclosure of certain personally identifiable information or any
other materials that must be’ protected from disclosure under
applicable law.” (emphasis added). Based on directions provided
to the Department of Justice and our understanding that a review
for protecting privacy interests had been conducted by the
Department of Justice and that additional redactions to protect
privacy interests had been applied to the materials, the
President also stated: “[A]t my direction, the Attorney General
has conducted an appropriate review to ensure that materials
provided: in the binder may be disclosed by the White House in
accordance with applicable law.”

We. understand that the Office of Legal Counsel has advised that
the Privacy Act does not apply to the White House and thus would
not apply to any disclosure of documents by the White House.
Nevertheless, we do not intend to disclose materials that would
violate the standards of the Privacy Act and, in particular,
materials the disclosure of which would constitute “an
unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” Accordingly, I am
returning the bulk of the binder of declassified documents to
the Department of Justice (including all that appear to have a
potential to raise privacy concerns) with the instruction that
the Department must expeditiously conduct a Privacy Act review
under the standards that the Department of Justice would
normally apply, redact material appropriately, and release the
remaining material with redactions applied.