Radio NZ finally recognises the existance of the FISA memo. It failed to report yesterdays incident with the Amtrak train
TRUMP TO SIGN OFF ON NUNES MEMO; SEND TO CONGRESS BY TOMORROW
FBI says release could be detrimental to national security
1
February, 2018
Update
1450ET: WaPo's
Josh Dawsey reports:
Senior White House official comes to back of Air Force One and tells reporters Trump is "OK" releasing the memo and he will tell Congress that "probably tomorrow," per pooler @tparti. Official declined to take any questions or be identified publicly, per pool.
*
* *
Update
1445ET: Speaker
Paul Ryan dismissed Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer's demands that
Nunes resign, saying Congress
is "doing its job of oversight" with the memo,
adding that "if
civil liberties were abused with FISA, then the memo needs to come
out."
Ryan
adds:
-
RYAN SAYS IMPORTANT TO SCRUB MEMOS TO PROTECT SOURCE, METHODS
-
RYAN SAYS MEMO PROCESS IS EXACTLY WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN
-
RYAN SAYS MEMO CHANGES MADE BEFORE VOTE
And
Ryan concluded by noting that "the
vast majority of FBI employees are doing a great job."
*
* *
Update
1200ET:
TRUMP
HAS READ NUNES MEMO: WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL
As
Reuters adds, the White House was working on Thursday to clear the
release of a secret Republican memo. As White House legal and
national security experts reviewed the document, the Senate’s No. 3
Republican, John Thune, urged his House of Representatives colleagues
to allow the Senate Intelligence Committee to review the document and
to heed the FBI’s concerns before they made it public.
The
administration official told Reuters earlier the memo was likely to
be released on Thursday. The
timing, however, remained in flux.
Nunes
has dismissed the objections to the memo’s release as “spurious.”
Thune,
attending a political retreat in West Virginia with other lawmakers
in Trump’s party, urged fellow Republicans to slow down regarding
the memo’s release.
“I
think the Senate Intelligence Committee needs to see it, for sure,”
Thune said. “They need to pay careful attention to what our folks
who protect us have to say about what this, you know, how this bears
on our national security.”
Thune
also said he believed that a counterpoint memo written by Democrats
on the House Intelligence Committee should be made public if the
Republican document is released.
*
* *
Update
1120ET: Minutes
after Pelosi's tantrum,
Bloomberg reports that The White House plans to sign off on the
memo's release today and send it back to Congress with a declaration
that is has been declassified. The committee would then release the
memo.
The
release is likely to come Friday morning, Fox
News is told.
As
a reminder, the FISA memo accuses the FBI and Justice Department of
misleading a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge in March
as they sought to extend an eavesdropping warrant against Trump
campaign adviser Carter Page, four sources familiar with it told
Reuters. The memo contends that the FBI and Justice Department failed
to tell the judge that some of the information used to justify the
warrant included portions of a dossier of Trump-Russia contacts that
was opposition research paid for by Democrats.
*
* *
Republicans
are reportedly planning to kick off the month of February by
releasing the infamous FISA memo alleging “egregious abuses” of
FISA surveillance powers by the FBI, Reuters reported citing a Trump
administration official who said on Wednesday that the memo is
“likely to be released on Thursday.”
The
four-page memo has circulated among the House, and has been seen by
the president and his chief of staff, John Kelly. Trump has until
Friday to decide whether the memo should remain classified.
The
news comes after the FBI yesterday issued a “rare public statement”
condemning the memo as factually inaccurate, saying it had “grave
concerns” about its release, which it said could be detrimental to
national security.
Even Democrats, who initially said the memo was intended to challenge the Mueller probe are now admitting that its contents could be damning, and raise questions about the bureau’s decision to wiretap Trump campaign aide Carter Page – evidence that was used to help justify the launch of the Trump investigation. Adam Schiff, the top Dem on the House Intel Committee, reportedly said yesterday that it could lead the firings of Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein and Special Counsel Mueller.
Earlier
this week, Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe announced his
resignation, reportedly under pressure, as reports of an internal
probe leaked. McCabe, along with Former FBI Director James Comey and
Rosenstein are all reportedly named in the report.
Trump
previously said this week that he was “100%” going to release the
memo following a question from a Republican lawmaker following the
State of the Union.
According
to lawmakers who have reviewed the memo, it contains a discussion
about the infamous dossier
that was put together about then candidate Donald Trump by a British
spy. Most of the claims in the scandalous dossier have not been
verified. Most involve alleged ties to Russian entities.
As we reported earlier, the White House is still pondering whether to release the memo’s supporting documents along with the memo.
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