GOP Memo Criticizing FBI Surveillance is Released (washingtonpost.com)

The controversial four-page memo created by Republican staffers on the House Intelligence Committee alleging abuse of surveillance authority by the Justice Department and FBI has been released Friday after being declassified by the president. The memo is unredacted. (Alternative link for the memo.) The Washington Post: The four-page, newly declassified memo written by the Republican staffers for the House Intelligence Committee said the findings "raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain (Justice Department) and FBI interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) calling it "a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process."

The memo accuses former officials who approved the surveillance applications -- a group that includes former FBI Director James B. Comey, his former deputy Andrew McCabe, former deputy attorney general Sally Yates and current Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein -- of signing off on court surveillance requests that omitted key facts about the political motivations of the person supplying some of the information, Christopher Steele, a former intelligence officer in Britain. The memo says Steele "was suspended and then terminated as an FBI source for what the FBI defines as the most serious of violations -- an unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI." The FBI Agents Association on Friday said that agents "have not, and will not, allow partisan politics to distract us from our solemn commitment to our mission." The full statement: The men and women of the FBI put their lives on the line every day in the fight against terrorists and criminals because of their dedication to our country and the Constitution. The American people should know that they continue to be well-served by the world's preeminent law enforcement agency. FBI Special Agents have not, and will not, allow partisan politics to distract us from our solemn commitment to our mission.

Comments

It's not about the content of the memo...

[Anonymous Coward]

This release was entirely for the purpose of ANNOUNCING a big thing, TEASING a big thing, then DEBATING it as a black box, then acting as if the release was some big lesson of punishment against those that disagree with the administration.

The actual details don't really matter, so much as they constitute an illusion that they have a big argument, and that for their captive audience on their news sources, they are winning on their terms.

And yes, this is very much how despotic regimes have operated for centuries.

I'm always still more than a little confused why anyone actually plays any of the particular roles in these scenarios though - does Devin Nunes think he's actually serving his own self interest in ANY way, given how basically every other person that has served Trump in this way has ended up over time?

Re:Carter Page is a known Russian Agent

[Rei]

Yeah. You might want to be able to show that, say, he was previously involved with a known Russian crime ring, and is now travelling to Moscow and giving talks condemning the US while working for a presidential campaign.

Can't imagine why you might want to investigate whether such a person might be working as a foreign agent.

Also, of note concerning this memo: FISA applications are generally ~50-ish pages long. If we're to believe Nunes, it was nothing but a giant list of "Steele says this..." and "Steele says that", and "Please don't ask us anything about who this steel guy was", and the judge was like, "Sure, no need for that, the word of one person is good enough for a FISA warrant." Actually, no, because even Nunes himself contradicts this narrative when he briefly brings up George Papadopoulos, who was apparently also listed as justification. If we're to take Nunes at face value concerning him ("there is no evidence of any cooperation or conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos"), the FBI said to the judge, "Hey, this guy Papadopoloulos is dirty, but has nothing to do with Carter Page, so let us spy on Page" and the judge said "Okay, that sounds logical" and granted approval.

Nunes mentions this in the same paragraph where he brings up his favourite FBI boogeyman, Strzok and - everyone prepare to be shocked - while working to portray him as part of a corrupt deep state conspiracy to elect Trump, doesn't bother to mention that Strzok advocated for and drafted the "Comey Letter" reopening the Clinton investigation, which cost her in polls more than her margin of loss in the key swing states. Aka, their boogeyman was a key figure in electing Trump.