Trump Approves Release of Memo Alleging FISA Abuses
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
It’s unclear if it’ll be released “100%” as Trump remarked after his State of the Union address on in redacted form, diluting its contents.
He declassified the memo, clearing it for release. It’s for the House Intelligence committee to make its contents public. They acted promptly. A follow-up article will discuss it.
The memo alleges FBI and DOJ Russiagate FISA surveillance abuses – unjustifiably justified by Christopher Steele’s dodgy dossier on Trump, his work funded by Hillary and the DNC, an attempt to smear him with allegations of improper or illegal connections to Russia during the presidential campaign.
This morning, Trump struck back tweeting: “The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans – something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!”
A second tweet said: “You had Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party try to hide the fact that they gave money to GPS Fusion to create a Dossier which was used by their allies in the Obama Administration to convince a Court misleadingly, by all accounts, to spy on the Trump Team.”
On Monday, House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes invoked so-called Rule X, Subsection 11(g), dealing with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
It lets the committee disclose classified material if a majority of its members believe “the public interest would be served by such disclosure” – the president given five days to authorize release.
If he refuses, the matter can be referred to a closed House session to decide up or down by majority vote on releasing the information.
Subsection 11(g) was never before invoked, congressional members going along with the intelligence community wanting certain information classified.
In invoking Rule X, Nunes went where none of his predecessors went before. It’s long overdue.
The secret FISA rubber-stamp court nearly always issues warrants on request, often violating Fourth Amendment protections.
Oversight of the intelligence community is sorely needed. Nunes took a step in the right direction, whatever his motives.
Let’s see what comes out when the Russiagate FISA memo is revealed. Will it be as shocking and explosive as claimed or something else entirely?
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