Posted on 01/28/2018 10:59:14 AM PST by Kaslin
Lawmakers have been reluctant to discuss a classified four-page memo alleging that the FBI and Justice Department abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in order to spy on Trump campaign associates, but South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy provided several clues on Sunday to what’s in the controversial document.
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Gowdy posed several questions to host Chris Wallace and his viewers that hinted at the allegations in the memo, which could be released by the House Intelligence Committee as early as this week.
“If you think your viewers want to know whether or not the dossier was used in court proceedings, whether or not it was vetted before it was used, whether or not it’s ever been vetted — if you are interested in who paid for the dossier, if you are interested in Christopher Steele’s relationship with Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee, then, yes, you will want the memo to come out,” Gowdy told Wallace.
“Do you want to know that the Democratic National Committee paid for material that was never vetted, that was included in a court proceeding?” he asked rhetorically.
“Do you want to know whether or not the primary source in these court proceedings had a bias against one candidate? Do you want to know whether or not he said he’d do anything to keep that candidate from becoming president?”
Gowdy’s reference to a source who said they opposed Donald Trump is unclear, though he would seem to be talking about Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the dossier.
Steele had been hired by Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that was paid $1 million by the Clinton campaign and DNC to investigate Trump.
Steele met with FBI agents in July 2016 and several months later to discuss his investigation of Trump. The bureau and DOJ reportedly used Steele’s work in an application for a surveillance warrant taken out against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Republican lawmakers have pressed the FBI and DOJ over how heavily they relied on the dossier for the warrant and for the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. Republicans also want to know whether the agencies vetted the dossier prior to using it in any FISA application.
In a Senate hearing last June, former FBI Director James Comey called the dossier “salacious and unverified.”
Gowdy declined to confirm reports that the dossier was used to obtain the FISA warrant. He said that that information is classified at this point and he’s not allowed to discuss it. But Republicans will be able to get around that restriction if the Intelligence Committee votes to release the memo, which Gowdy helped write.
Democratic lawmakers have called the memo a set of talking points aimed at helping Trump, and the Justice Department sent a letter to committee chairman Devin Nunes calling the release “extremely reckless.”
In his interview, Gowdy said that he has suggested that Nunes allow the FBI and Justice Department to view the memo prior to its release. But he says that the information contained in the document is based on information already provided by those agencies.
“There’s nothing in this memo the Department is not already aware of,” Gowdy said on Sunday.
Watch Trey Gowdy discusses FISA memo
Without an Attorney General, everything from the “Memo”, to ‘Wiretapping”, to e-mail grabs, is Nothing. Sessions is not only not helping, he is hindering investigations. Unless and until Trump fires Sessions, this is all just masturbation.
Pure speculation. Click bait.
Trump said that Rosenstein was a mistake.
No doubt, DOJ lawyers already have prepared a motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent disclosure on the grounds that sources and methods will be revealed. If the motion is filed before the FBI/DOJ see the memo, then it will be clear those agencies know what the memo contains and want to suppress the content. Thus, the charade of demanding access and accusing the Committee of recklessness if the memo is disseminated to the public without prior disclosure to DOJ/FBI. Hopefully, the Committee will not be intimidated, and will vote to disclose the memo so the American people can get a true sense of the damage done to our country.
Trump also said he didn’t know who Rosenstein was ... even though it was TRUMP who rejected Rosenstein’s resignation as the U.S. Attorney for the Maryland district after SESSIONS ordered Rosenstein to submit his resignation as a matter of course.
“Why Trump appointed them is beyond my understanding.”
Trump getting Rosenstink to draft Comey’s firing letter was masterful political maneuver and actually boxes in Mueller if he tried to go the obstruction route on Trump firing Comey. Maybe there are other reasons Rosenstink is useful right where he is for the moment. In my dreams it will be easier to put handcuffs on them after they show up to work one day. Saves on driving out to their houses too!
and the Nunes memo is just the first punch, preparing the masses for the IOG report -
there’s the one, 2 punch!
Congress doesn't answer to the DOJ. The DOJ would be laughed out of court.
‘Keep in mind that the defendants in a criminal prosecution have the strongest case to get their hands on this information. Mueller may very well drop the cases entirely rather than turn the information over ... which means his investigation has always been pointless to begin with.
But here’s something to consider ...
Manafort’s lawyers may serve the subpoena on Congress instead ... and Rep. Devin Nunes will be more than happy to oblige and turn all the documents over.
Now the reason for the contrived DOJ opposition to the release of the memo becomes more obvious.
by Alberta’s Child
~~~~~~~~~
ohhhhhhhhhhh, someone here plays chess! :) +++++++++++
What you posted there explains exactly why Mueller has never been looking at an obstruction charge related to the Comey firing. Rosenstein would have an obvious conflict of interest if that was the case.
I am starting to believe this “investigation” is really just political theater designed to rile the base.
A revelation here, a drip there. And it grinds into the second year with everyone still in their jobs, no change whatsoever, and even Jeff Sessions at DOJ pushing to keep information secret. the only “special counsel” is still Mueller, appointed by a holdover Assistant AG Rosenstein, accountable to no one, still chasing Russian ghosts.
Yep. The GOPe are keeping us in the weeds and leading us by the nose from one text message to the next instead of looking the big picture conspiracy and demanding resignations/criminal proceedings.
I have been cautioning everyone to not let themselves get too worked up over this. In the end, it is going to be a disappointment.
Yep. It’s all beltway theater. POTUS knows nothing criminal will come of this and that is why he is hammering on it in twitter as a political issue.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the memo has references to people and/or crimes that are the subject of ongoing DOJ investigations
Most obvious one would be Strzok prejudicing the case against Flynn. That is my guess as to the real reason why he was fired.
Maybe Fox covered that subject this morning but NBC, ABC, and CNN were all foaming at the mouth over Trump’s obstruction of justice.
Trump said that he didn't know that Rosenstein was from Baltimore. Trump didn't say that he didn't who Rosenstein was.
Trump likely kept Rosenstein on as US attorney because he was the only remaining Bush holdover.
Both of those things don't lessen the fact, that Trump has said that Rosenstein was a mistake.
Using a little bit of logic here indicates that Gowdy just confirmed that the 'dossier' WAS used for this. If anyone were to ask if my daughter's seventh grade science fair report had been used to obtain the FISA warrant, it would not be classified to say no. In fact, the obvious answer would be "Of course not". Similarly, it's only if something had been used would it be classified to answer the question in the affirmative.
I'll take a bite from the apple, just what job is it your talking about.
1.) It's their job to try and CYA (Cover Your A$$ETS?)
2.) It's their job to simply deny any involvement?
3.) It's their job to make sure no one from the swamp goes to jail?
4.) I know their job is not to expose and or let out the truth!!!!!
So, Just to be clear, just what "job," are we talking about?
That's good. Ain't it?
You are right...He does not act like it...
I think they knew and gave that info to Trump a long time ago. He was on board as a birther. As time went on and Trump saw what was happening decided to get involved. I think he had some patriots begging him to do it.
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