Trump’s Spin on Democratic Memo
The Republicans and Democrats on the House intelligence committee have now released competing memos on how the FBI and Department of Justice obtained court approval for surveillance of Carter Page, a former adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
The GOP memo, released Feb. 2, contends the FBI and Department of Justice abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by omitting “material and relevant information” in its FISA application. The Republicans maintain that a series of reports compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele “formed an essential part of the Carter Page FISA application,” but the government’s application did not disclose that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid for the so-called Steele dossier.
The Democrats responded with a memo, released Feb. 24, that contends the “FBI and DOJ officials did not ‘abuse’ the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process,” claiming that the DOJ “cited multiple sources to support the case for surveilling Page” and “made only narrow use” of information from Steele. It maintains that the court knew Steele was hired to conduct political opposition research.
On the day the Democratic memo was released, President Donald Trump tweeted that it proves the “FBI did not disclose who the clients were — the Clinton Campaign and the DNC” in its application to the FISA court. That’s misleading.
The Clinton campaign and the DNC were not mentioned in the
