by ConservativeHQ.com Staff
Democrats and their Lefty media allies would like the findings of the memo compiled by House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes to never see the light of day, or, absent that, to be completely discredited as a partisan hit job or crazy conservative conspiracy theory.
Here’s what we know so far and why it is so important that the memo and its sources should be released as Hillary ClintonSenator Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate committee on the Judiciary has demanded.
The Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff and Spencer Ackerman report that the memo specifically names FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein along with former FBI Director James Comey as complicit Obama-era surveillance abuse.
Capitol Hill sources on both sides of the aisle say the memo’s release is only a matter of time. And when it comes out, these current and former officials are likely to face even more criticism from conservatives, libertarians and Republicans over their involvement in FBI counterintelligence work.
While drawing considerable ire from Chairman Grassley, the Justice Department has continued to stonewall and express serious concerns about the memo’s potential release.
In a letter sent to Nunes on Jan. 24, Stephen Boyd, the department’s top congressional liaison, wrote that “it would be extraordinarily reckless for the Committee to disclose such information publicly without giving the Department and the FBI the opportunity to review the memorandum and to advise the HPSCI [the House intelligence committee] of the risk of harm to national security and to ongoing investigations that could come from public release.”
That letter also said the department is “unaware of any wrongdoing” related to the FISA process—indicating the department disagrees with the scores of congressional Republicans who say Nunes’ memo provides proof of wrongdoing.
However, the New York Post’s Michael Goodwin claims it is almost certain that the FBI used the now-discredited “dirty dossier” on Trump to get FISA court warrants to spy on Trump associates, meaning it used the opposition research of the party in power to convince a court to let it spy on the candidate of the other party — likely without telling the court of the dossier’s political link.
Even worse, says Goodwin, there is growing reason to believe someone in President Barack Obama’s administration turned over classified information about Trump to the Clinton campaign.
As one former federal prosecutor put it, “It doesn’t get worse than that.” That prosecutor, Joseph diGenova, believes Trump was correct when he claimed Obama aides wiretapped his phones at Trump Tower.
These and other elements, says Goodwin, combine to make a toxic brew that smells to high heaven, but most Americans don’t know much about it. Mainstream media coverage has been sparse and dismissive and there’s a blackout from the same Democrats obsessed with Russia, Russia, Russia.
None of this would have come to light but for the persistence of Chairman Devin Nunes. After he accused the FBI of stonewalling in turning over records, the bureau relented, at least partially.
The result, concluded Goodwin, was clear evidence of bias against Trump by officials charged with investigating him and Clinton. Those same agents appear to have acted on that bias to tilt the election to Clinton.
Goodwin then ticks off the points already in the public record leading him to that conclusion:
In one text message, an agent suggests that Attorney General Loretta Lynch knew while the investigation was still going on that the FBI would not recommend charges against Clinton.
How could she know unless the fix was in, asks Goodwin.
It was in the office of Comey’s top deputy, Andrew McCabe, where agents discussed an “insurance policy” in the event that Trump won. Reports indicated that the Russia collusion probe was that insurance policy.
The text was from Peter Strzok, the top investigator on the Trump case, and was sent to Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer and also his mistress.
“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40 . . .,” Strzok wrote.
It is frightening that Strzok, who called Trump “an idiot,” was the lead investigator on both the Clinton and Trump cases Goodwin pointed out.
Goodwin concluded his analysis by saying all roads in the explosive developments lead to James Comey, whose Boy Scout image belied a sinister belief that he, like his infamous predecessor J. Edgar Hoover, was above the law.
Professor Charles Lipson, writing for RealClearPolitics.com observed that there are now three major congressional investigations, peeling away layers of political bias, unequal application of the law, and, perhaps even felonies by senior officials who may have leaked classified documents, obstructed justice, and violated Fourth Amendment guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure.
Prof. Lipson pointed-out these probes center on credible allegations that the FBI and DOJ fixed the investigation of Hillary Clinton to clear her and her top associates, and then launched an investigation of Donald Trump for partisan political reasons.
If these allegations are true—and as Lipson noted, they have not yet been proven—this is the biggest American political scandal since Watergate. It would mean that the executive branch agency tasked with enforcing the law, instead subverted the law to protect its favored presidential candidate and damage the opposition party’s. Then, it tried to cover it all up.
The Nunes memo is the first official document to summarize these explosive charges and the evidence backing them up. The public has a right to see that evidence, and Congress has a duty to expose and refer for prosecution all of those involved – especially those who are still serving in government.
We urge you to join the social media campaign to release the memo on Obama’s abuses of FISA, or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to the public by tweeting #ReleaseTheMemo, posting this article on Facebook or other social media and calling your Representative (The Toll-Free Capitol Switchboard is 1-866-220-0044) to tell your Member of Congress you want the Nunes memo released to the public immediately.
Reprinted with permission from ConservativeHQ.com
