Poised to release the secret GOP memo detailing the FBI’s improper use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA], 71-year-old President Donald Trump gets his chance to discredit the Russian collusion investigation. When Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions recused himself March 2, 2017, it left Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller as Speical Counsel May 17, 2017 to investigate Russian meddling and alleged Trump collusion in the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has called the Russian investigation the biggest witch hunt in U.S. history, concocted off the fake news media, charging, trying and convicting him of colluding with the Russians. Trump releases the memo not to jeopardize U.S. national security but to save it from a rogue FBI and Justice Department, conspiring to sabotage his campaign and now presidency.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton accused Trump of being a “Putin puppet” Oct. 19, 2016 in the last presidential debate in Las Vegas. Ever since, Democrats and the media pushed the idea that Putin helped Trump win the presidency. With Hillary winning nearly 3 million more popular votes, the Russian theory makes zero sense. Democrats were in such disbelief following Trump’s unexpected victory Nov. 8, 2016 that they shifted gears to discredit his presidency, looking ahead to retaking the House and Senate in Nov. 2018 Midterm elections. After dealing with utter disgrace at the Democratic National Committee with the resignation of Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz July 24, 2016, interim DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile didn’t help matters giving Hillary debate questions in advance. But the DNC continues to hammer the Russian conspiracy theory.
Trump claimed for some time that the Russian collusion charges were concocted by the Democrats to de-legitimize his presidency. When Tom Perez took over the DNC Feb. 26, 2017, he continues the Russian collusion narrative believing it (a) wrecked Trump’s approval ratings and (b) gave Democrats the best shot of taking back Congress in 2018. Trump’s decision to release the memo gives him the best shot to end Mueller’s Russian probe and restore credibility to his presidency. If the memo proves correct, that the FBI misused the national security apparatus to keep Trump from the White House, it becomes the biggest scandal in U.S. history. Justice Department and FBI officials have pulled out all the stops to prevent the release of the GOP memo, not because they believe it hurts U.S. national security.. Officials in the Justice Department and FBI believe it exposes egregious abuses by agencies’ top brass.
Democrats on Capitol Hill, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have called the document, prepared by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), bogus, a set of failed Republican talking points. Pelosi and Schumer have called for Nunes’s removal from the House panel. Deputy Atty. Gen. Stephen Boyd called the memo release “reckless” Jan. 24. FBI officials said they have “grave concerns” Jan. 30 about the expected GOP memo’s release. FBI and Justice officials wouldn’t object to the memo’s release so strongly if the content didn’t have merit. Both agencies fear public humiliation for abusing the nation’s national security apparatus for political purposes. Recently released texts by Special Counsel’s former Hillary email investigator Peter Strzok reveal extreme prejudice against Trump in the FBI.
Nunes’s secret memo details FBI abuses of the FISA Court to discredit Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. Obtaining a FISA court warrant to wiretap former Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page by using Hillary paid opposition research AKA “the dossier,” shows how the FBI sought every way possible to prevent a Trump presidency. House Intelligence Committee Co-Chairma Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called the memo an attempt to obstruct the Special Counsel’s investigation. But if the FBI, Justice Department or National Security Agency sought illegal or improper wiretaps for political purposes it discredits the Special Counsel’s investigation. Questions arise as to who at the Obama White House ordered wiretaps of Trump campaign officials. Former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice and others were involved in the FISA process to seek wiretap warrants to investigate former Trump campaign officials.
Former FBI Director James Comey and Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe have a lot of explaining to do to justify wiretapping Trump campaign officials like Page, former National Security Adviser Gen. Michael Flynn, Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos. If the GOP memo shows that Comey used Hillary’s paid opposition research AKA “the dossier” as probable cause to get warrants in the FISA Court, it’s going to show an egregious abuse of the national security apparatus. FBI and Justice Department objections to releasing the GOP’s secret memo relate more to sparing the agencies embarrassment than national security concerns. With Democrats putting all their eggs into the Russian collusion basket to win back the House and Senate in 2016, things could backfire if the secret GOP memo confirms illegal or improper action by the FBI and Justice Department.
