House Democrats' Counter-Memo Released, Alleging Major Factual Inaccuracies (vox.com)

Long-time Slashdot reader Rei writes: Three weeks ago, on a party-line vote, the U.S. House Intelligence Committee voted to release a memo from committee chair and Trump transition team member Devin Nunes. The "Nunes Memo" alleged missteps by the FBI in seeking a FISA warrant against Trump aide Carter Page; a corresponding Democratic rebuttal memo was first blocked from simultaneous release by the committee, and subsequently the White House. Tonight, it has finally been released.

Among its many counterclaims: the Steele Dossier, only received in September, did not initiate surveilance of Page which began in July; the Steele dossier was only one, minor component of the FISA application, and only concerning Page's Moscow meetings; Steele's funding source and termination was disclosed in the application; and a number of other "distortions and misrepresentations that are contradicted by the underlying classified documents". Perhaps most seriously, it accuses Nunes of having never read the FISA application which his memo criticized.
Vox argues the memo proves that no one was misled when the surveillance was authorized. "The FBI clearly states right there in the FISA application that they believe Steele was hired to find dirt on Trump... After the Schiff memo was released on Saturday, House Republicans released a document rebutting its core claims. Their response to this damning citation is -- and I am not making this up -- that the vital line in which the FBI discloses the information about Steele was 'buried in a footnote.'"

Comments

Re:How is this news for nerds?

[phantomfive]

Because it's strong evidence that FISA courts are a joke and should be illegal.

There doesn't seem to be a way aournd this

[cold fjord]

Obama DOJ Wouldn’t Have Sought FISA Warrant on Trump Advisor Without Clinton-Campaign-Funded Dossier

Then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe testified in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in December that the Obama Administration Justice Department would not have sought a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to put surveillance on volunteer Trump campaign advisor Carter Page without a dossier that had been funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, according to a memorandum released by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

The application for the FISA warrant did not inform the FISA court that approved the warrant that the DNC and Clinton campaign had been involved in financing the dossier that provided information used in the application.