February 2, 2018 2:15 PM
#ReleaseTheMemo Has Been Released
Earlier, the White House declassified the memo written by House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA-22) to the majority members of the Committee.
Two things you will likely hear, or may have heard, through the weekend: Republicans will point to this as damning evidence against Democrats using a federal agency to win an election. Democrats will minimize the memo as a big nothingburger. Either way, this is what will be the main focus for the next few days.
Take a read through the memo posted below, courtesy of Reuters, once or twice (maybe even three times) and see what you think for yourself. Feel free to opine in the comments below.
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So basically what this adds up to is we have a secret court that folks like the FBI, the DOJ, and Political parties can present false and salacious information to them in order to get warrants to spy on American citizens.
And apparently no one is going to do anything about it and the people involved in this will once again face no consequences. So tell me again why they can violate the constitution that covers protections from these types of incidents?
Tell me again why we would have been put under the jail for doing such a thing, yet our government masters with their secret courts can do whatever they want?
What does the release of this memo do? Not a damn thing, we already suspected all of this. What I want to know is what is going to be done about it.
We can object to some of the things the FISA court has done, but this doesn’t appear to be among them. In hindsight, Carter Page was and is a legitimate target of an investigation. So whatever evidence they had to get a warrant on him would seem to have been legit.
Now, mass-mining meta-data for ALL calls in the Verizon network might be a bit of an over-reach. But then again, we don’t know what they saw that made them want to do that.
Not that I agree with anything you stated, but I want to add that every single congressman who is bashing law enforcement and the FISA courts voted a couple of weeks ago to continue and expand the reach of said FISA courts…
(think church lady) How Convenient
First…the dossier is not been proven false but much has been shown to be true.
Second…you gotta have a lot of evidence to get a FISA warrant on an American Citizen.
Third…you would have to have every FBI, DOJ, and FISA Judge that ruled on this on the same page to commit this supposed crime…didnt happen
The “secret court” you speak of didn’t play favorites in this instance. In its 40 years of existence the FISA court has approved over 35,000 requests for warrants. It has denied only 12. It has been described as a Kangaroo Court with a rubber stamp. Even this astronomical ratio wasn’t enough for the
CheneyBush II administration after being rebuffed they let the NSA run amuck without FISA warrants with no repercussions. In the internet age we live in the 4th Amendment is toast.If the FBI was so prejudiced against the Trump campaign then please explain the 11th hour letter from Director Comey to Congress announcing the reopening of the Clinton email scandal. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back according to Hillary. Comey’s reward was to be fired in an “unpresidented” action by a US President. Comey’s tweet on this memo: “That’s it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs.”
Look at this without partisan blinders. This administration is throwing all the dust they can to obscure the facts. If they have nothing to hide then testify out in the open and quit trying to attack the investigation tangentially.
The one thing I heard a while back which may make sense is that the FISA court could- upon passage of legislation I presume- appoint an attorney ad litem to represent the interests of the unknowing proposed subject of surveillance.
I like the idea in theory, but then you’d have a defender who can’t communicate with their client and would probably have to do their own surveillance of their own client to put up any kind of meaningful defense.
The FBI used a fake document, bought and paid for by the Democrats and Hillary Clinton campaign, to get a court order to spy on American citizens on the Trump campaign. Not just once but 4 times. All in an effort to manipulate the election outcome and to overturn the results of the election.
Robert Mueller, although not named, has surrounded himself with many of these people. It’s clear he is a co-conspirator in the FBI’s treason as well.
If the Democrats continues to support the liars and traitors at the FBI and even Mueller, they will forever tarnish their reputation. The time to stand up for principle is now.
“As I have said repeatedly, I also remain 100 percent confident in Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The contents of this memo do not – in any way – discredit his investigation.”
Rep Trey Gowdy, one of only two members of congress who as actually read the FISA warrant. (I guess he must be a co-conspirator too.)
I’m laughing so hard right now.
So you’re okay with the fact that Trump is in bed with the Russians (just a saying, people) because you’re concerned with the FISA process?
Where were you 10 years ago when all the “liberals” were complaining about FISA? Oh yeah, you were screaming, “IF YOU AREN’T DOING ANYTHING WRONG, THEN WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT?”!
This would be an example of just how successful Putin’s troll factories have been. We have apparently conservative people claiming widespread treason within the FBI/Justice Dept- while Republicans hold the White House and both chambers of Congress!
Trump may not believe he is under the influence of Russian interests, but he is doing their work anyway. And Putin was very astute in recruiting Trump in particular into his orbit. It may have been a once in a lifetime opportunity to able to manipulate someone so rich, so (apparently) charismatic, and so obtuse and ignorant to not understand what is going on. You have to give Putin props for recognizing the opportunity and being able to take advantage of it to maximum effect.
How we regular citizens became so tribal that we would blindly follow our “leader” down such obvious and dangerous rabbit holes that are so totally opposite our ordinary values is worth investigation too.
There’s no need for the Russians to collude when it’s so easy to manipulate an idiot and his idolizing supporters.
This memo proves that the FBI and Justice Department were rigging the election, not the Russians. They took a bogus political hit job and used that to obtain a secret warrant from a secret court to spy on Americans.
Now that their favored candidate lost, these same people, lead by corrupt deep-stater Mueller, are now running an investigation with the goal of impeaching a properly elected President and at the same time destroying evidence of their own real crimes.
You think that is ok?
Let me add simething here: I have not been posing much on this yet. Guys like Drew and B are gonna be tempted to jump on Mikes post with insults. Let’s assume, for a sec, that the dossierwas used and not disclosed as salacious, unverified oppo. What are those of the other side saying about it? Drew, “fruit of poisonous tree?” Serious problems?
I think when you say “proof” you mean you’ve been convinced. But the actual evidence, as will eventually be supported by a large majority in the court of public opinion, is in the opposite direction to say the least. The narrative you claim just supports your predispositions and identity, which appears to include some sort of affinity for conspiracy theories. Don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirrors.
“I’m all for that. Open it up,” Wenstrup said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The Ohio Republican, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, was speaking alongside a Democratic colleague on the panel, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut.
Himes said he backed the release of any relevant transcript that would shed light on what recently retired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said in testimony about the importance of an opposition research dossier on then-candidate Donald Trump in obtaining a warrant on former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
“I would even support, if it could be redacted in such a way as not to be damaging, I would support releasing the underlying FISA applications,” Himes said.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/04/politics/brad-wenstrup-jim-himes-cnntv/index.html
Sounds fair. Let’s do it.
So Mike, if the transcript shows that Nunes was less than honest about what McCabe said, and the FISC warrant request was about 50 pages and shows several other sources of evidence supporting a warrant, would you likely agree that this isn’t a partisan witch hunt or political hit job? If not, what evidence would it take to disprove this allegation?
There may be no evidence that can change minds that are predisposed only to beliefs. Even if Vladimir Putin confessed to every worst kind of collusion and interference imaginable, even that could be spun in the mind of someone whose beliefs simply can’t accommodate anything as other than part of the conspiracy.
“But, Gowdy, the only Republican on the House Intelligence Committee who has seen the actual FISA warrant applications — Nunes has not — emphasized that the memo does not discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and any ties to Trump associates.
“The dossier has “nothing to do” with the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving Donald Trump Jr., Trump son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, and a Russian lawyer, Gowdy noted. Gowdy also said the dossier did not form the basis for the case against George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign aid who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about foreign contacts. The dossier has nothing to do with obstruction of justice, Gowdy noted.
“So there’s going to be a Russia probe, even without a dossier,” he said. “
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trey-gowdy-face-the-nation-fisa-surveillance-warrant-would-not-have-been-authorized-without-dossier/
Perhaps mind tricks actually do work on the weak-minded.
One perspective…
https://nypost.com/2018/02/03/the-gop-memo-proves-the-deep-state-is-real/
That article explains the situation better than I ever could.
“The claims in the memo that FBI and Justice officials acted corruptly should concern all fair-minded Americans, regardless of political preference. Those claims force us to ask whether we are a nation of laws that apply equally to all.
If not, we are no longer America. We are a banana republic where it’s acceptable for the government to use its police powers against political opponents.”
I don’t know why you bother with editorials. After the man himself said he was ‘totally vindicated’, what more do you need?
Yes, I would think at least everybody on this forum is concerned about rule of law and keeping law enforcement apolitical. Which is why ppl were off-put by chants of Lock Her Up. And why there is a sort of firewall between the FBI /DoJ and the Pres. to begin with. And why ppl think Presidents shouldn’t mess with FBI investigations. Let the Inspector General do his/her job and ferret out employees who improperly allow politics to enter professional decisions. Of course, that may be trickier for political appointees. Of course, politics is much easier to factor out when all or most players are of one party.