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Posted on 02/05/2018 3:38:57 PM PST by jazusamo
Video at link.
The House Intelligence Committee on Monday voted unanimously to release a memo drafted by Democrats to rebut a GOP-crafted document alleging surveillance abuses at the Department of Justice (DOJ), according to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
The 10-page classified document now goes to President Trump, who has five days to block its release if he so chooses. It remains an open question whether he will do so.
Trump on Friday declassified the Republican document, which was drafted by staff for House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). Trump claimed the memo “totally vindicates” him in the ongoing investigation into his campaign’s alleged links to Russia.
The central thrust of the Nunes memo is that senior DOJ officials inappropriately relied on a piece of opposition research paid for in part by Hillary Clinton to obtain a surveillance warrant on Trump campaign aide Carter Page. It claims that without the so-called Steele dossier, no surveillance warrants would have been sought.
The Democratic memo is expected to lay out a point-by-point rebuttal of the assertions in the Nunes memo and make the case that the FBI had good reason to spy on Page as part of the counterintelligence probe into the Trump campaign.
A decision by the Trump White House to block its publication would almost certainly set off a firestorm of accusations from Democrats that he is attempting to obstruct justice.
The White House has signaled that it is open to allowing the release of the Democratic memo, but included a caveat for national security protections.
“The administration stands ready to work with Congress to accommodate oversight requests consistent with applicable standards, including the need to protect intelligence sources and methods,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in reference to the Democratic memo.
Committee Republicans who have seen the Democratic memo have said it is highly detailed and would need to be heavily redacted before release. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has also alluded to the need to protect intelligence sources and methods in offering tempered support for its release.
“If it is scrubbed to ensure it does not reveal sources and methods of our intelligence gathering, the speaker supports the release of the Democrats' memo,” AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, said in a statement last week.
If Trump does block the document’s release, the full House can hold a vote to override him and force the publication of the memo.
Intelligence Committee Republicans last week voted down a measure that would have made the Democratic memo public at the same time as the Nunes memo.
The panel did vote to make the document available to the entire House, as it had previously done with the Republican memo.
10 page?
Will Trump approve it? And what will the effect be when he doesn’t?
I believe this is strictly for show by the Rats, even the Hill reported it’ll have to be heavily redacted
Why would anyone bother to read what co-coup-conspirators wrote on paper to attempt to confuse the situation?
I think the Nunes Memo was just a little taste of what is coming(first bullet out of 10 per Sara carter) and Nunes and company didn’t want to show their whole and yet....
show whole hand yet I meant
Dear President Trump:
Please don’t approve release. Stick it to ‘em!
DON'T FALL FOR DEEP STATE DIP-SCHIFF AND HIS READY-MADE MEDIA'S TRICK. BLOCK THE MEMO!
The WH should release it’s own memo.
I rebut the rebut of the memo. Liberals are so damn stupid.
All Trump needs to say is: “YOUR MEMO IS BLOCKED BECAUSE.. ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES”
Wait a minute. How many Democrats voted to release the Nune’s Memo? I bet the MSM does not remind anyone of that.
Yep, Schiff is a lying, conniving turkey.
Also, the "news" media desperately want this to counter the Nunes Memo.
The counter-memo will counter nothing.
Wrote it on Saturday ?
Nunes has a second memo teed up.
Release it same day as Dem memo.
This is how they behave in everyday life.
It is a miserable existence that ends up with a fag son and gay daughter. These people exist.
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