Tag: Nunes slanted FBI memo

The Nunes memo shows the opposite of what Trump hoped it would prove

The following commentary by the Editorial Board of the Washington Post was posted on their website February 2, 2018:

The Nunes memo. Credit: Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg

EVEN TAKEN at face value, the infamous Nunes memodoes nothing to discredit the Russia investigation, which was President Trump’s transparent aim in authorizing its release on Friday. It also does little to show abuse of surveillance law, which was the pretext on which House leaders justified its disclosure.

The memo argues that the FBI may have abused special spying authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), obtaining a warrant to surveil former Trump adviser Carter Page using information from the controversial Steele dossier, a collection of allegations about Mr. Trump and his circle assembled by a former British intelligence agent with funding from Democrats. The memo claims that the FBI did not disclose the dossier’s full provenance in its application for a FISA warrant, suggesting that the warrant against Mr. Page — and, therefore, perhaps, the early stages of the Russia investigation — was tainted. Continue reading “The Nunes memo shows the opposite of what Trump hoped it would prove”

Why Trump is so eager to release the Nunes memo

The following article by James Hohmann with was posted on the Washington Post website February 1, 2018:

The Washington Post’s Devlin Barrett analyzes the disagreements between the FBI and the White House over a memo alleging surveillance abuse by the FBI. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

THE BIG IDEA: The classified memo written by Republican staffers for Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) could be released as early as today, despite an FBI statement expressing “grave concerns” and complaints from Democrats that it’s been materially altered at the last minute.

Senior White House officials and advisers say that President Trump wants the document published because he sees it as key to making changes at the Justice Department, particularly pushing out Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Continue reading “Why Trump is so eager to release the Nunes memo”