House committee votes to release Democrats' rebuttal to Nunes memo
President Donald Trump/Shutterstock.com.
The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously Monday to release the Democratic rebuttal to a Republican memo released last Friday that accused the FBI and Justice Department of a misleading warrant request.
The decision now shifts to President Donald Trump, who has five days to decide whether to release the Democratic memo, report the New York Times, the Washington Post and Politico.
Trump said on an open microphone after last Tuesday’s State of the Union address that he would allow release of the GOP memo. It contended a dossier written by former British spy Christopher Steele and financed by Democrats was “an essential part” of a surveillance request submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The government was seeking a warrant for surveillance of Carter Page, a former adviser to the Trump campaign.
The GOP memo said senior officials with the FBI and the Justice Department knew of the Democratic connection, but did not disclose it.
Democrats have said the surveillance application did mention potential political bias. The Republican committee chair, U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes of California, acknowledged on Fox & Friends that a footnote mentioned political bias, but it didn’t go far enough, Politico reports in a separate story.
“A footnote saying something may be political is a far cry from letting the American people know that the Democrats and the Hillary campaign paid for dirt that the FBI then used to get a warrant on an American citizen to spy on another campaign,” Nunes said.
If Trump does not allow release of the Democratic memo, Democrats could ask the full House of Representatives to override the president, according to the Times.
White House spokesman Raj Shah said the new memo would be subjected to a national security review, just as the GOP memo was reviewed. But Trump indicated on Twitter on Monday that he has little regard for the House committee’s top Democrat, also from California.
Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper! Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2018
He also praised Nunes in another tweet.
Representative Devin Nunes, a man of tremendous courage and grit, may someday be recognized as a Great American Hero for what he has exposed and what he has had to endure!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2018
