UPDATE: FISA abuse memo to be published next week?
Colleague Catherine Herridge rpts source close to Hse Intel Cmte says GOP mbrs now favor publishing FISA abuse memo, based on feedback from mbrs. Say next week is a possibility.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 23, 2018
***
Last week, we reported that a four-page memo about alleged FISA abuses was made public to the entire House. Almost 200 members have read it. It details abuses so egregious that some lawmakers say could lead to drastic changes at the FBI and Department of Justice. Some have linked the alleged abuses to that of the KGB. The debate now is whether to make this memo public. Democrats are against it, saying it’s an incomplete record that offers a “distorted view of the FBI”; the latter part of that phrase can be attributed to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. The allegation that will be the focus of this memo should it be made available for everyone to read is the Obama administration’s alleged abuse of FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign. Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) has to decide whether he wants to pursue this course of action. In all, we’ll have a better picture of what’s going to happen in about 19 days (via Fox News):
House Republicans are hopeful that a four-page memo allegedly containing "jaw-dropping" revelations about U.S. government surveillance abuses will soon be made public.
Rep. Dave Joyce, a Republican from Ohio, told Fox News on Monday that the intelligence committee plans to work on releasing the document but warned that once Americans see it, they’ll “be surprised how bad it is.”
The process of releasing the memo could take up to 19 congressional working days which puts its release around mid-March. The document’s release would first need approval from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who can decide to bring the committee back together for a vote. If the majority of the committee votes to release the memo, it would then be up to President Trump.
If he says yes, the memo can be released.
Joyce said he’s personally read the memo twice and “it was deeply disturbing as anyone who’s been in law enforcement and any American will find out once they have the opportunity to review it.”
[...]
Joyce and a handful of other conservatives have been pushing for the memo to be made public. They have suggested that it contains damning evidence the Obama administration used FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) warrants to spy on the Trump campaign as well as his transition team ahead of the president’s swearing-in.
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Breaking: FBI notifies Congress that certain FBI text message evidence Is missing in the Congressional oversight probe into FBI handling of Hillary Clinton email investigation.
— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) January 21, 2018
The FBI claims they're "missing" 5 months of text messages between anti-Trump agents, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) January 23, 2018
The 5 month period where texts are "missing"? It ends May 17, 2017--the exact day the Mueller investigation began.
I mean, come on. #ReleaseTheTexts #ReleaseTheMemo
And now we wait. In the meantime, the FBI has straight up said they lost five months worth of texts between FBI Agent Peter Strzok and bureau lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an extramarital affair. Some 10,000 texts (AG Sessions says more like 50,000 now) between August of 2015-December of 2016 were previously released, all anti-Trump—though one from August of 2016 caught the eye of everyone. Where Strzok, then a top counterintelligence agent, mentioned an “insurance policy” in a meeting with Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Was it the dossier, which some have alleged provided the foundation for issuing FISA warrants against Carter Page, Trump’s foreign policy adviser? Strzok had been involved in the Hillary email probe and signed off on the counterintelligence investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians during the 2016 election in July of 2016; an investigation now being helmed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The dates of the missing texts are between Dec. 14, 2016 and May 17, 2017. Mueller was appointed on May 17, 2017.
And you thought Bruce Ohr’s trip up was bad. Ohr was a former assistant deputy attorney general at DOJ before his demotion because his wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS. Fusion is the firm that hired ex-MI6 operative Christopher Steele to compile the dossier, which is really a massive opposition research project since this work was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign. Ohr even met with this crew and did not disclose it, hence his demotion. Yet, we have a five-month gap in texts leading up to Mueller’s appointment as special counsel. Yeah, the FBI is going to have to answer some questions about those “lost” text messages. So, plenty of deep state theater ahead, folks.
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