Posted on 02/01/2018 8:23:22 PM PST by Steven W.
Congressional Republicans are seeking to make the case that the FBI’s investigation into President Trump’s campaign and possible collusion with Russia was based on flawed or politically tainted evidence connected to partisans loyal to Hillary Clinton.
The House Intelligence Committee memo spearheaded by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) that is the talk of Washington will be at the center of the argument. The release of that four-page memo is expected as early as Friday.
Another document — an eight-page criminal referral filed with the Justice Department by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — is also part of the GOP case.
While the FBI has been protesting the release of the Nunes memo, it has been working behind the scenes to vet a version of the Grassley-Graham memo, which is expected to be released in redacted form soon. The FBI is also seeking redactions to the Nunes memo, though it is not clear the White House or congressional Republicans will agree to them.
ADVERTISEMENT Republicans believe both documents will back up arguments that evidence used to justify the FBI’s probe came from partisans loyal to Clinton, sources said. They are also expected to play into arguments from some Republicans that special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia is based on false information.
Those suggestions have provoked a backlash from Democrats. Some Republicans have also expressed concerns, with GOP leaders saying Mueller should be allowed to continue his work. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday backed releasing the Nunes memo but also offered support for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The GOP's arguments that the FBI investigated on flimsy evidence will zero in on ex-British intelligence operative Christopher Steele, whose unverified dossier of Trump allegations gave enormous momentum to the probe during the bitterly fought 2016 presidential election, say sources familiar with the memo.
They will argue the FBI failed to critically assess the political motives and credibility of Steele and did not fully disclose that evidence came from Clinton supporters as it sought to get permission from courts for surveillance warrants.
“The fact that half to three-quarters of the evidence the FBI used to unleash the most awesome of surveillance powers upon Donald Trump’s inner circle came from sources tied directly to his Democratic opponent should worry us all, especially when that happened during an election,” said one senior Republican directly familiar with the evidence, describing the party’s core concerns.
“The FBI allowed itself to be used by Clinton partisans to parlay single-sourced, mostly unverified evidence into a counterintelligence probe with clear weaknesses that weren’t disclosed,” the source added.
Sources in both parties and in law enforcement say the emergence of Steele and his dossier in the summer of 2016 gave the FBI the jolt to open a full counterintelligence probe into alleged Trump-Russia collusion.
Steele, a British intelligence officer for decades, had provided reliable evidence that helped the FBI in a prior foreign corruption case and his early package of information contained multiple allegations of Trump-Russia collusion organized and sourced liked real raw intelligence, sources said.
So the FBI put great credence in Steele’s work product when it approached the courts for legal surveillance authority, even though much of what Steele provided could not be immediately corroborated, the sources said.
Steele was employed by the research firm Fusion GPS, which was in turn being paid to do opposition research on Trump by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Wasn’t the whole Mueller investigation based on tainted evidence (i.e., the DNC “Hack”)?
Witchhuntgate.
What if Steele didn’t write or compile the dossier?
What if he was just paid for the use of his name?
What if the Clinton campaign and their conspirators at the top of the FBI actually wrote it?
” . . . seeking to make the case . . ..”
No! They are NOT seeking to make the case. They are MAKING the case! Geez.
What is Paul Ryan’s problem?
Is he still this much of a weasel?
The whole Mueller investigation is built on Lies, with the Media in america playing the largest role in this CIME.
CRIME....my damn R key is f-ing up.
The Hill publishes some pro-Democrat nonsense every 5-7 minutes it seems.
So it wasn’t the Russian’s meddling in our elections but our “cousins from across the pond.”
Ryan is a politician who puts relationships above principle, as do most politicians. That is what makes them consummate politicians.
In my opinion, their initial intent was to destroy Trump after Hillary won - which they obviously and erroneously (thank God) thought would happen. Hillary is clearly narcissistic and appears vindictive, but honestly I think Obama is even worse - although he controls his behavior in public as well as anyone I’ve seen. I think they both personally despise Trump because of what he said about them during the campaign, and they wanted to make him pay after the election. It wasn’t just an ‘insurance policy’ for if he got elected. It was going to be ‘payback’.
Well said.
NELLIE OHR....NELLIE OHR....NELLIE OHR
In my opinion, their initial intent was to destroy Trump after Hillary won - which they obviously and erroneously (thank God) thought would happen. Hillary is clearly narcissistic and appears vindictive, but honestly I think Obama is even worse - although he controls his behavior in public as well as anyone I’ve seen. I think they both personally despise Trump because of what he said about them during the campaign, and they wanted to make him pay after the election. It wasn’t just an ‘insurance policy’ for if he got elected. It was going to be ‘payback’.
—
An FBI hit squad would have taken out Trump’s entire family as a “message” that you don’t run against the Deep State. They’d make the hit look like a random crime, like Seth Rich’s murder.
So Obama and the Dems wiretapped Trump Tower?
Excellent!
Witchhuntgate
Even though Rosenstein is crooked as a dogs hind leg, it looks like Paul Ryan just sent a signal to him not to resign.
/.02
No offense to dogs.
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