Donald Trump slams the Democrats’ ‘memo’ response
Three weeks ago, President Donald Trump authorized the release of the so-called FISA memo, which alleged that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI illegally obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. On Saturday, the House Intelligence Committee offered their rebuttal in the form of a 10-page document purporting to exonerate the DOJ and FBI from any and all wrongdoing.
While some believe that the newly released memo accomplishes its intended goal — to discredit the original FISA memo — others are unconvinced. Chief among them is President Donald Trump, who has called the rebuttal memo “a total political and legal BUST.”
Trump responds to Schiff’s counter-memo
In response to the counter-memo’s release, the White House issued a statement saying that “while the Democrats’ memorandum attempts to undercut the president politically, the president supported its release in the interest of transparency.”
Subsequently, the president took to Twitter to express his belief that the newly released memo not only fails to rebut the FISA memo but actually supports it.
The Democrat memo response on government surveillance abuses is a total political and legal BUST. Just confirms all of the terrible things that were done. SO ILLEGAL!
Similarly, the author of the original FISA memo, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), after reading the counter-memo, stated:
What you’re not going to see is anything that actually rejects what was actually in our memo.
What you basically will read in the Democratic memo is they are advocating that it is okay for the FBI and DOJ to use for political dirt paid for by one campaign and use it against the other campaign.
According to the president, the memo failed in several ways, including by not mentioning that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign funded the Steele dossier, which was compiled by an individual who was strongly opposed to Trump, and which the FBI and DOJ’s warrants, however narrowly, still relied upon. The president tweeted:
“Correcting the record”
After its release had been blocked on numerous occasions in order to redact sensitive information, the Democrats’ counter-memo, written by House Intelligence Committee member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), finally saw the light of day on Saturday. Schiff said of the memo:
The Democratic response memo released today should put to rest any concerns that the American people might have as to the conduct of the FBI, the Justice Department, and the FISC.
Looking to “correct the record,” the memo begins with what it hopes to show. “FBI and DOJ officials did not ‘abuse’ the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process, omit material information or subvert this vital tool to spy on the Trump campaign,” it reads.
Not content with merely discrediting the FISA memo, however, Schiff goes on to say that the DOJ and FBI had the duty to get a FISA warrant to spy on Trump campaign member Carter Page. Schiff writes:
In fact, DOJ and the FBI would have been remiss in their duty to protect the country had they not sought a FISA warrant and repeated renewals to conduct temporary surveillance of Carter Page, someone the FBI assessed to be an agent of the Russian government.
DOJ met the rigor, transparency, and evidentiary basis needed to meet FISA’s probable cause requirement, by demonstrating: contemporaneous evidence of Russia’s election interference; concerning Russian links and outreach to Trump campaign officials; Page’s history with Russian intelligence; and Page’s suspicious activities in 2016, including in Moscow.
Counterarguments
The rebuttal specifically looks to set the record straight on two points. First, it alleges that the infamous dossier by Christopher Steele was not vital to the FBI’s decision to initiate its 2016 investigations into ties between Trump and Russia.
Rather, they were “based on troubling law enforcement and intelligence information unrelated to the dossier” — specifically, the information obtained from Trump campaign team member George Papadopoulos.
Second, the counter-memo claims, the FISA application to spy on Trump campaign member Carter Page, and its renewals, were only “narrowly” based on the Steele Dossier. Instead, according to the counter-memo, the DOJ focused on Page because of his 2016 meetings with Russian officials in Moscow, and Steele’s intel was used only to the extent that it corroborated what was known about these meetings.
But one may wonder why the Steele dossier was used at all? The rebuttal memo lists three reasons:
Steele’s prior relationship with the FBI; the fact of and reason for his termination as a source; and the assessed political motivation of those who hired him.
Accordingly, the Democrats believe that this document completely rebuts the FISA memo, which they say drew “selectively on highly sensitive classified information” to produce a document full of “distortions and misrepresentations.”
The rebuttal specifically looks to set the record straight on two points. First, it alleges that the infamous dossier by Christopher Steele was not vital to the FBI’s decision to initiate its 2016 investigations into ties between Trump and Russia.
Rather, they were “based on troubling law enforcement and intelligence information unrelated to the dossier” — specifically, the information obtained from Trump campaign team member George Papadopoulos.
Second, the counter-memo claims, the FISA application to spy on Trump campaign member Carter Page, and its renewals, were only “narrowly” based on the Steele Dossier. Instead, according to the counter-memo, the DOJ focused on Page because of his 2016 meetings with Russian officials in Moscow, and Steele’s intel was used only to the extent that it corroborated what was known about these meetings.
But one may wonder why the Steele dossier was used at all? The rebuttal memo lists three reasons:
Steele’s prior relationship with the FBI; the fact of and reason for his termination as a source; and the assessed political motivation of those who hired him.
Accordingly, the Democrats believe that this document completely rebuts the FISA memo, which they say drew “selectively on highly sensitive classified information” to produce a document full of “distortions and misrepresentations.”
Looking forward
The president seems to be right on this one.
Rather than rebut anything that the FISA memo’s accusations, the committee merely offered a “Democratic” interpretation of certain events in question while disregarding the key pieces of information that underpin the accusations of misconduct against the FBI and DOJ.
They can’t hide the truth.
Source:>>>>>>>>>>>>Here
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