Attorney Ty Clevenger is turning up the heat on the FBI—and he’s naming names.
Clevenger has unleashed a scathing rebuke of the FBI’s ongoing stonewalling in the Seth Rich case, accusing the bureau of peddling “incredibly weak excuses” to hide thousands of critical documents that could blow the lid off the Russia collusion hoax and the mysterious 2016 murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.
The FBI’s refusal follows a pattern of obfuscation. For years, the agency denied even possessing Seth Rich’s laptop—until Clevenger’s legal efforts forced the FBI to admit they had it all along. Yet, the agency still refuses to disclose any metadata from Seth Rich’s electronic devices.
Last month, Clevenger filed a motion in federal court to hold the FBI in contempt for what he calls a “deliberate and willful defiance” of a court order mandating the release of key information related to murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich.
After being met with silence, Clevenger fired off a blistering letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, torching the Bureau for what he says is a calculated and ongoing effort to conceal critical records about Seth Rich and bury the truth about the discredited Russia narrative.
Clevenger took to X on Tuesday, writing, “The FBI filed a response to our contempt motion in the Seth Rich case, and it raises more questions than it answers. The response offers some incredibly weak excuses for thousands of missing documents, and it contradicts some of the earlier admissions by the FBI.”
The attorney’s April 18, 2025, letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, first reported by The Gateway Pundit, laid bare the FBI’s possession of critical evidence, including Seth Rich’s work laptop, a personal laptop image, a DVD, and a tape drive—items the bureau initially denied having.
Despite court orders to review these devices, the FBI has stonewalled, offering flimsy justifications for withholding thousands of documents. Clevenger argues this is a calculated effort to protect the discredited narrative that Russian hackers, not Rich, leaked DNC emails to Wikileaks in 2016.
“Per my April 18, 2025, letter to FBI Director Kash Patel and AG Pam Bondi (see https://thegatewaypundit.com/2025/04/breaking-attorney-ty-clevenger-exposes-fbis-role-hiding/…), this stuff goes to the heart of the Russia Hoax. It appears that the infamous Michael G. Seidel, chief of the FBI’s FOIA section, may have been forced out in April. If Patel and Bondi did that, then good for them,” Clevenger wrote on X.
The attorney praised Bondi and Patel for possibly forcing out Michael G. Seidel, the former chief of the FBI’s FOIA section, in April. However, he slammed the duo for allowing the FBI to continue its “pattern of obfuscation and delay.”
Clevenger singled out Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Spence, who remains in charge of the Seth Rich case, as “part of the problem.”
He urged U.S. Attorney Ed Martin to remove Spence and replace the entire team handling the case.
“This has dragged on far too long,” Clevenger wrote, calling on congressional heavyweights Rep. James Comer, Rep. Jim Jordan, Sen. Chuck Grassley , and Sen. Ron Johnson to demand the release of all records and haul the FBI into public hearings.
The @FBI filed a response to our contempt motion in the Seth Rich case, and it raises more questions than it answers. I’ve posted the response and two exhibits below.
The response offers some incredibly weak excuses for thousands of missing documents, and it contradicts some of…
— Ty Clevenger (@Ty_Clevenger) May 7, 2025
FBI’s Response to Attorney Ty Clevenger’s Contempt Motion
The FBI has responded to allegations that it is obstructing the release of crucial documents.
In a newly filed court response obtained by The Gateway Pundit, the FBI claims it has “substantially complied” with court orders and accuses plaintiff Brian Huddleston of making baseless, inflammatory claims to push a narrative of government concealment.
Huddleston, represented by attorney Ty Clevenger, previously filed a motion demanding the FBI be held in contempt of court for allegedly failing to follow a judge’s explicit instructions to review and release material from Seth Rich’s work and personal laptops—devices believed by many to hold the key to unraveling the DNC email leak scandal and its ties to the now-debunked Russia collusion hoax.
But in its response, the FBI insists that it did what was required and then some, asserting that it conducted a “document-by-document review” of the files, produced the court-ordered Vaughn indexes, and even addressed metadata from both laptops—despite the court only mandating metadata from the work device.
The Bureau’s filing downplays the importance of the data, claiming that the laptops merely “came into the government’s possession following Seth Rich’s murder” and that they do not contain official government records.
The FBI even argued that many of the files were too corrupted to be opened, suggesting that the agency has no obligation to “restore” or reconstruct the records.
The FBI wrote in their response, “The laptop and the records found thereon belong to an individual, a homicide-victim, that happened to land in the government’s possession. Defendant has no obligation to restore a computer to its original condition when it did not receive the Personal Laptop in its original condition. The files were corrupted at the time the government first attempted to review them. What Plaintiff is requesting is, essentially, that the Defendant create new records that it never possessed—uncorrupted files from homicide victim’s personal computer—but this exceeds the government’s obligations under the FOIA.”
Most telling, however, is the Bureau’s accusation that Huddleston has “lack standing” to pursue the contempt claim, pointing to a prior filing indicating he “transferred his interest” in the case.
“It is undisputed that Plaintiff Huddleston has “transferred his interest in this case.” ECF No. 164. Because Mr. Huddleston lacks any cognizable interest in the case, he no longer has standing to pursue relief. Therefore, he lacks standing to seek to hold Defendant in contempt for violating any court order.”
Read the FBI’s response here.
FBI Hiding Explosive Seth Rich Laptop Details Under Guise of “Active Investigation”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Spence and Acting FBI Section Chief Shannon R. Hammer have effectively admitted that the Bureau is withholding the contents of murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich’s work laptop, personal laptop, DVD, and tape drive—citing vague claims of “ongoing investigations” and “national security concerns.”
According to the Bureau, releasing the information could “undermine the law enforcement interests” and “reveal information about the nature, scope, focus, and conduct of active, ongoing investigations.”
According to Hammer, “To describe the specific contents of the Personal Laptop and the Work Laptop at a document-by-document level, could reveal information that Exemption 7(A) protects from disclosure. Such a disclosure could reasonably be expected to harm the ongoing homicide investigation led by the USAO-DC, as well as the pending enforcement proceedings and spin-off national security investigations derived from the Special Counsel’s Office. These harms include, as discussed more fully in the Eighth Declaration of Michael Seidel (ECF No. 148-1), permitting targets, witnesses, or subjects of the ongoing investigations to estimate the scope of the investigations, and allowing those persons to discern investigative strategies and employ countermeasures to thwart them.
Read Shannon Hammer’s declaration here.
Read Michael Spence’s declaration here.
The post Attorney Ty Clevenger BLASTS FBI’s “Weak” Excuses in Seth Rich Case — Demands Congress to Haul FBI Into Hearings: “Patel and Bondi Have Allowed the FBI to Continue its Pattern of Obfuscation and Delay” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
