The House Intelligence Committee on Friday publicly released a GOP-drafted memo that alleges surveillance abuses against the Trump team, amid objections from the FBI, Department of Justice officials, and committee Democrats.
The memo alleges that federal officials omitted information in their application to the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) for a surveillance warrant (and in three renewals for that warrant) for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
“The “dossier” compiled by Christopher Steele on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign formed an essential part of the Carer Page FISA application,” the memo reads. “Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele’s efforts,” the document continues, “even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior DOJ and FBI officials.”
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application did not mention that Steele, a former FBI source, “was ultimately working on behalf of—and paid by—the DNC and Clinton campaign,” according to the memo. Then-FBI director James Comey signed three Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications authorizing surveillance on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Former deputy director Andrew McCabe signed one.
McCabe testified before the intelligence committee in December 2017 “that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information.”
Steele was clearly biased against the president, the memo alleges, something that the FBI had documentation about, but was “not reflected in any of the Page FISA applications.” Before and after his termination as an FBI source, Steele maintained contact with then-associate deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr. The FBI began interviewing Ohr shortly after the 2016 election, “documenting his communications with Steele,” the memo says, and had in its possession a September 2016 admission from Steele to Ohr that he “was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.”
“While the FISA application relied on Steele’s past record of credible reporting on other unrelated matters, it ignored or concealed his anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations,” the document says.
Republicans say the document reveals politically motivated surveillance against the Trump team, and is a product of the intelligence committee’s oversight mandate. But Democrats counter that the memo is misleading and “cherry picks” highly classified information. They say it represents an effort to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian election interference including any links between the president and the Trump team.
“The president is looking for a reason to fire Bob Mueller,” the panel’s top Democrat Adam Schiff said Thursday. “The president is looking for a reason to fire Rod Rosenstein.”
The White House declassified the memo without redactions on Friday, despite concerns raised by the FBI and some at DOJ. FBI director Christopher Wray said in a statement Wednesday that the bureau has “grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.” Wray viewed the memo on Sunday along with House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes and Oversight chairman Trey Gowdy.
Republicans on the panel made some changes to the memo Monday, after the panel had approved its public release. Democrats urged that the memo be withdrawn from White House consideration, describing the changes as secret and “substantive” ones that invalidate the release process.
The majority disputed that characterization and the notion that the changes undermine procedure. “The Committee Minority is now complaining about minor edits to the memo, including grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and by the Minority themselves,” a committee spokesman said.
Some at the DOJ had also raised concerns about publicly releasing the memo. Assistant attorney general Stephen Boyd urged Nunes in late January not to release the memo without DOJ and FBI vetting, describing the move as “extraordinarily reckless.”
The Senate intelligence committee attempted to view the memo but was not granted access.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Abuses at the DOJ and FBI HPSCI Majority Staff Memo by J. Swift (TWS) on Scribd
