Prior to leading the FBI director, Kash Patel served as chief investigator for a congressional probe into the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.

The issue made headlines again this week when Patel announced that he uncovered classified material at the FBI's headquarters. 

Thousands of documents found in "burn bags"

According to Fox News, the FBI director found burn bags containing thousands of documents inside a secret room at Washington's J. Edgar Hoover Building.

The cable network explained that the term "burn bag" refers to a container into which classified material is placed before it is disposed of via incineration.

Fox News cited an unnamed source as saying that one of the documents appeared in the classified annex to former Special Counsel John Durham's final report.

Durham was tasked with looking into the origins of the FBI's "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation, which focused on since discredited allegations that President Donald Trump colluded with the Russian government during his 2016 campaign.

Discovery linked to request from Sen. Chuck Grassley

"Ultimately, the release of the classified annex will lend more credibility to the assertion that there was a coordinated plan inside the U.S. government to help the Clinton campaign stir up controversy connecting Trump to Russia," the anonymous source was quoted as saying.

"Mere days after this intelligence was collected, the FBI launched Crossfire Hurricane. It's really hard to see how Brennan, Clapper and Comey are going to be able to explain this away," he or she added.

Other sources were quoted as telling Fox News that the discovery was made following an investigative request from Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Grassley, who serves as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has sought more information concerning Durham's probe.

Patel alluded to discovery during interview with Joe Rogan

Fox News noted how declassification of the annex is being carried out via a collaborative effort involving Patel along with other key administration figures.

These include CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and acting National Security Agency Director William Hartman.

The network recalled how Patel alluded to his discovery of the burn bags during an interview in June with podcast host Joe Rogan.

"Just think about this," Patel began. "Me, as director of the FBI, the former 'Russiagate guy,' when I first got to the bureau, found a room that Comey and others hid from the world in the Hoover Building, full of documents and computer hard drives that no one had ever seen or heard of. Locked the key and hid access and just said, 'No one's ever gonna find this place.'"