#schiff memo

[atheistforhumanity]

This was me yesterday morning predicting Trump would not release the democrat’s memo. I’m not sure I’m glad about being right.

Let’s just recap events here:

*Last year, Devin Nunes betrayed the intelligence committee to work in conjunction with the White House to accuse the FBI of trumped up charges of unethical behavior. That didn’t stick.

*This year, Nunes heads up the writing of the republican memo which fails miserably at again accusing the FBI of unethical behavior. All of this is of course an effort to shut down Mueller’s investigation into the Trump-Russia collusion.

*Trump approved the release of the republican memo before he even read it!

*We do know that in a closed meeting of the intelligence committee Nunes was asked point blank if he or his staff worked with the White House on this memo. He at first said, “as far as I know, no.” Then when pressed he flat out refused to answer. Hmm. That’s not suspicious.

*Trump claimed on twitter that the republican memo “totally vindicated ‘trump’.” (Yea, he referred to himself in the third person and quoted his name, because he’s a stable genius.) This proves that Trump’s only concern is ending the investigation and that he doesn’t understand the content of the memo AT ALL, because even republicans who wrote the memo say it doesn’t vindicate him.

*The intelligence committee already unanimously agreed to release the democrat’s rebuttal memo. It’s worth noting that the democrat’s memo is ten pages compared to four, because their chief complaint was that Nunes cherry picked and left out vital information to create a biased and inaccurate account of events.

*Now Donald Trump has blocked the release of the democrat’s memo. They claim it is for security purposes, even thought he entire committee agreed to release it and some republicans have said on television that if they hope to have any transparency and appearance of fairness they need to release the democrat’s memo as well.

My thought is that Trump won’t release the democratic memo until they’ve cut it down to the point his lawyers tell him it is worthless.

[trueconservativepundit]

Today’s Special

The long-awaited Schiff memo is out and it’s full of a lot more than a nothing burger. Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2018. See more A.F. Branco cartoons on The Olive A.F.Branco Coffee Table Book <—- Order Here! Republished with permission Comically Incorrect  

View On WordPress

[deanlawrencekowalski]

The Schiff Memo Harms Democrats More Than It Helps Them | National Review It confirms that the FBI and the DOJ relied heavily on uncorroborated, third-hand, anonymous sources in their FISA application. Source: The Schiff Memo Harms Democrats More Than It Helps Them | National Review

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Luke Barnes at ThinkProgress: 

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted Monday to release a secret memo on the Justice Department probe into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — while refusing to let the top-ranking Democrat release a competing report.

FBI Director Christopher Wray reportedly met with Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), who prepared the memo, and asked him to wait to release it, but Nunes moved forward with the vote anyways.

Just spoke w/ Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). He tells Post that Wray “raised concerns” about memo after viewing it, told Schiff about them today. Asked cmmte to wait for him to brief them before voting on release. Cmmte instead voted tonight. Schiff calls the move “disgraceful.”

— Robert Costa (@costareports) January 30, 2018

Nunes claims his memo shows that the FBI and DOJ used tainted information to form a politically biased investigation into the Trump campaign. Specifically, the memo says Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein signed off on an application extending the surveillance on Trump campaign associate Carter Page, the New York Times reported.

Republicans and Fox News pundits have been clamoring for the release of the memo, calling it “worse than Watergate.” Until now, Nunes has kept his memo close — refusing to share it with Senate Republicans or officials with the DOJ and FBI.

“I viewed the classified report from House Intel relating to the FBI, FISA abuses, the infamous Russian dossier, and so-called ‘Russian collusion.’ What I saw is absolutely shocking,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) said. “This report needs to be released — now. Americans deserve the truth. #ReleaseTheMemo.”

Contrary to what Republicans claim, the House Intelligence Committee’s top-ranking Democrat, Adam Schiff (CA), said that Nunes’ memo is completely biased, and cherry picks intelligence to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian collusion. “[Republicans] seek to selectively and misleadingly characterize classified information in an effort to Protect the President at any cost,” Schiff said last Wednesday.

The DOJ also warned Nunes last week that releasing the memo without review by law enforcement would be “extraordinarily reckless”

JUST IN: DOJ's Stephen Boyd has sent a letter to @DevinNunes saying release of *the memo* without review by DOJ/FBI would be "extraordinarily reckless." Says the memo purports to be based on "classified source materials that neither you nor most of" the committee "have seen." pic.twitter.com/F0pmL34vhk

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 24, 2018

“This is an effort to circle the wagons around the White House and distract from the Russia probe,” Schiff said Monday after the vote to release the memo. “I think we have crossed a deeply regrettable line… There was a vote to politicize the declassification process of intelligence and potentially compromise sources and methods.”

This memo is part of the latest efforts of congressional Republicans and Fox News contributors to aggressively discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian collusion. As ThinkProgress previously reported, by labeling Mueller’s investigation as “illegitimate,” “corrupt,” and full of “unaccountable bias” — the same claims in Nunes’ memo — conservatives are making it increasingly difficult for Mueller’s investigation to proceed unimpeded. This is only further emphasized by the abrupt resignation of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe on Monday.

Nunes has used his role atop the House Intelligence Committee to run interference for Trump. Last March, after a late-night excursion to the White House, he claimed that it was at least possible that President Obama had tapped Trump’s phones, adding “I don’t know that the American people would be comfortable with what I’ve read.” The House Ethics Committee cleared Nunes of breaking the rules about public disclosure of classified information — but only because there was fierce disagreement as to what was and was not classified, according to The Atlantic.

That's not right at all!