Posted on 02/02/2018 8:52:17 AM PST by markomalley
The House Intelligence Committee has released its controversial memo outlining alleged abuses of secret surveillance by the FBI and Justice Department in the Trump-Russia investigation. Here are some key points:
* The Steele dossier formed an essential part of the intial and all three renewal FISA applications against Carter Page.
* Andrew McCabe confirmed that no FISA warrant would have been sought from the FISA Court without the Steele dossier information.
* The political origins of the Steele dossier were known to senior DOJ and FBI officials, but excluded from the FISA applications.
* DOJ official Bruce Ohr met with Steele beginning in the summer of 2016 and relayed to DOJ information about Steele's bias. Steele told Ohr that he, Steele, was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected president and was passionate about him not becoming president.
The FBI and Justice Department mounted a months-long effort to keep the information outlined in the memo out of the House Intelligence Committee's hands. Only the threat of contempt charges and other forms of pressure forced the FBI and Justice to give up the material.
Once Intelligence Committee leaders and staff compiled some of that information into the memo, the FBI and Justice Department, supported by Capitol Hill Democrats, mounted a ferocious campaign of opposition, saying release of the memo would endanger national security and the rule of law.
But Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes never wavered in his determination to make the information available to the public. President Trump agreed, and, as required by House rules, gave his approval for release.
Finally, the memo released today does not represent the sum total of what House investigators have learned in their review of the FBI and Justice Department Trump-Russia investigation. That means the fight over the memo could be replayed in the future when the Intelligence Committee decides to release more information.
The fact that the Steele Dossier was used to get the FISA warrants is a very big deal. It destroys the whole basis for the Mueller investigation. And the FBI knew that the dossier was funded by the DNC and Hillary campaign and did not reveal that to the FISA court. Another big deal.
So who will be going to jail based on this?
A pdf of the original document would be helpful. That way each of us can ascertain its significance rather than relying on interpretations of what it says.
Thanks.
Note to self, write this day off. You will get NOTHING done, but a whole lot of web surfing.
Patienz
Yup those are both quite significant, though long known by all of us.
It has been reported that we’ll all be able to see the memo on line. don’t worry.
I really really hate to use the word “nothing burger”, but this is pretty much exactly what Sean Hannity has been saying for months.
Where’s the part that shocks the conscience?
Well we can start with whoever took the application for a warrant to the FISA court knowing it did not contain factual information.
If you had no clue about any of this.....and many Americans don’t...
This is indeed big news....and only the tip of the iceberg
#&^@ I’m suppose to be teaching the French Revolution to my 13 year old-—they gave him a college level book to read.....cannot concentrate!
No, but they will spin it like this...
NOTHING BURGER
Rush is going over the memo now.
Thanks markomalley.
Yes. And it's over. What we'll see now is a lot of finger-pointing and eventual prison for Comey and his friends. Here's why:
The document shows the "Russia investigation" began and continued as a political hack job and the guys at the top knew it and concealed the fact, knowingly presenting tainted evidence to a court of law--and possibly lying in response to questions from the bench. Unless they judge-shopped beforehand to avoid such obvious questions, which is likely.
These look like the key points to me, and I'm confident they can be backed up from testimony transcripts, or Nunes wouldn't have written the memo, Trump wouldn't have approved it, and the Dems and Justice wouldn't have been so desperate to suppress it:
* The Steele dossier formed an essential part of the intial and all three renewal FISA applications against Carter Page.
Think about that. The Steele dossier is fiction, and is widely acknowledged to be fiction on all sides.
* Andrew McCabe confirmed that no FISA warrant would have been sought from the FISA Court without the Steele dossier information.
This is equally damning: All they had to go with was partisan fiction, and they went to court with it. Incredible.
* The political origins of the Steele dossier were known to senior DOJ and FBI officials, but excluded from the FISA applications.
They lied. A complete description of the origins of evidence is always required in court.
* DOJ official Bruce Ohr met with Steele beginning in the summer of 2016 and relayed to DOJ information about Steele's bias.
The problems with the evidence were known to the DOJ when they made the (false) FISA app.
They're done. Trump isn't going to let this go, and that's the only factor needed.
There will be more in the memo than what’s being reported now. These early stories have been cued up since yesterday so they can be ready to go when the memo was released.
You are kidding me, right?
Look for the Dems to leak their 10 page rebuttal resume right away even though the committee has not yet cleared it
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.