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Democrat Smears on Nunes’s FISA Abuse Memo Proved False by Inspector General Report

Democrats last year smeared Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) when he issued a memo with findings that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process when it obtained surveillance warrants on Carter Page, a member of the Trump campaign, in 2016.

However, a report released Monday by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz provided a damning indictment of the FBI’s use of the FISA process that vindicated Nunes’s memo and proved Democrats’ smears and assertions were false.

Nunes’s memo included the findings that 1) “material and relevant information was omitted” in applications for FISA warrants; 2) the FBI inaccurately stated in their FISA warrant applications that ex-British spy Christopher Steele was not a source for a Yahoo News report used in the applications; 3) Steele maintained contact with the FBI even after being fired as a source; 4) the FBI did not corroborate the Steele dossier at the time it was included in the applications; and 5) the FISA applications for Page mentioned former campaign aide George Papadopoulos, even though there was no conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos.



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The DOJ IG’s report confirmed every finding in Nunes’s memo.

Yet, Democrats tried to prevent the publishing of Nunes’s memo and had made numerous claims that Nunes’s memo was furthering a “conspiracy” or was “dangerous.”

In January 2019, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) wrote in the Washington Post that Nunes’s memo outlining concerns of FISA abuse “crosses a dangerous line.”

Schiff claimed:

The Nunes memo is designed to do just that by furthering a conspiracy theory that a cabal of senior officials within the FBI and the Justice Department were so tainted by bias against President Trump that they irredeemably poisoned the investigation.

Schiff tweeted on July 22, 2018, “the FBI acted lawfully and appropriately” and called Nunes’s memo “fraudulent.”


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He tweeted on February 28, 2018 that the Nunes memo was “inaccurate, misleading and extraordinarily reckless,” and that there was “no evidence of abuse.”


Trump admin asks Spanberger, Virginia officials not release illegal charged with groping high school girls
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Viktor Orban faces uphill battle to hold leadership as opposition hits him on Russia ties and accusations of corruption
Where things stand with Iran war in its third week
Minnesota bill would ban warrants allowing police to collect data from devices near a crime scene
Jasmine Crockett defends her security guard who was killed in police standoff, wanted for impersonating cop
ABC News Left Out Crucial Context In Story About Iran Drone Threat To California
Anti-ICE agitators blow cover in Boston, allowing child rape suspect to evade arrest for weeks
Utah children’s book author Kouri Richins convicted in husband’s murder
Search for missing retired Air Force general enters third week as investigators probe new clues
Trump questions Newsom’s fitness for White House, citing his dyslexia
Court allows DOJ to proceed with appeal over law firm executive orders
Trump lawyer in Jack Smith case draws conservative backing after DOJ praise rattles ‘elite’ legal conference
Illegal immigrant held on ICE detainer in Charlotte murder as disturbing details surface
Vance accuses media of trying to ‘drive a wedge’ between him and Trump over Iran

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Failed 2020 Democrat nominee Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) also got in on the smearing, telling the Post on January 29, 2018, that Nunes’s memo is a grossly distorted attack on the Mueller probe, designed to “brainwash” people into erroneous conclusions.

Swalwell called the memo “a perversion of the facts to brainwash our members and protect the president.”

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) said on February 2, 2018 in a statement it was “terrifying” to “watch Republican leadership enable to spread” a false narrative to save Trump:

From the implication that our intelligence agencies are a part of some ‘Deep State’ conspiracy to help the Democrats, to the willful manipulation and misstatement of key facts in the Russia investigation, the President – and those working with him – is eroding the very cornerstones of our democracy and slow-walking us into a constitutional crisis.

She also accused Republicans of overplaying their hand and creating a “frenzy” about this memo, according to a February 2, 2018, Politico article. “Republicans have overplayed their hand, and they have created a frenzy about this memo,” she said.

She also called the memo a “pack of lies, according to a Los Angeles Times piece on January 19, 2018.

There were no shortage of other accusatory remarks by Democrats who are responsible for the oversight of the intelligence community or Justice Department.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) said on NPR on January 28, 2018, that Nunes’s memo was “just the latest installment in the long campaign to try to delegitimize the FBI and the Department of Justice and Bob Mueller.”


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“It makes allegations that are unfounded. It’s full of factual inaccuracies,” he claimed.

He also called Nunes’s memo “shoddy and dishonest” in a February 2018 tweet:

He also mocked Nunes’s memo in another tweet:

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), who sits on the Intelligence Committee, claimed in a February 2, 2018, statement that Nunes’s memo “represents a shameful effort to undermine Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation and potential findings.”


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He claimed, “This is a clear breakdown in the way the House Intelligence Committee conducts oversight of the intelligence community, representing uncharted territory and a constitutional crisis ahead.”

He also claimed the memo was a “political document” and a “partisan document” that “Fox News and Breitbart will make the kind of deal about that Donald Trump would like to see.”

Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) called the release of Nunes’s memo “absolutely disgraceful,” in a January 30, 2018, statement.

“It is absolutely disgraceful that Republicans are willing to undermine our Intelligence Community and our investigation into Russia’s attack on our democracy all in the name of defending President Trump,” she said.

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), claimed in a January 30, 2018, tweet that Nunes’s memo is  “foolish, dangerous, and an obvious distraction”


Trump admin asks Spanberger, Virginia officials not release illegal charged with groping high school girls
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He later tweeted on February 5, 2018, that the Nunes memo “doesn’t vindicate the president”:

He then touted a counter-memo by Democrats that claimed the FBI did nothing wrong:

Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA) on February 2, 2018, called the memo “full of inaccuracies and misleading statements.”

“It is a memo designed to achieve only one purpose, and that is to discredit the investigation. It cherry-picks its facts and it is full of inaccuracies and misleading statements,” Heck claimed.


Trump admin asks Spanberger, Virginia officials not release illegal charged with groping high school girls
Trump voter ID push faces Senate test as GOP rebels threaten to sink bill
Viktor Orban faces uphill battle to hold leadership as opposition hits him on Russia ties and accusations of corruption
Where things stand with Iran war in its third week
Minnesota bill would ban warrants allowing police to collect data from devices near a crime scene
Jasmine Crockett defends her security guard who was killed in police standoff, wanted for impersonating cop
ABC News Left Out Crucial Context In Story About Iran Drone Threat To California
Anti-ICE agitators blow cover in Boston, allowing child rape suspect to evade arrest for weeks
Utah children’s book author Kouri Richins convicted in husband’s murder
Search for missing retired Air Force general enters third week as investigators probe new clues
Trump questions Newsom’s fitness for White House, citing his dyslexia
Court allows DOJ to proceed with appeal over law firm executive orders
Trump lawyer in Jack Smith case draws conservative backing after DOJ praise rattles ‘elite’ legal conference
Illegal immigrant held on ICE detainer in Charlotte murder as disturbing details surface
Vance accuses media of trying to ‘drive a wedge’ between him and Trump over Iran

Nunes took a victory lap on Monday after the release of the report, tweeting:

“Looks like DOJ IG Report is clear that Republican FISA abuse memo from February 2018 was accurate and actually understated the FISA abuse the dirty cops engaged in. Time for FISA court to take action!”

Story cited here.

 

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