Nunes Admits Fine Print Shows DOJ Didn't Conceal Info

But panel chair says 'footnote' wasn't enough when it came to surveillance of Carter Page
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 6, 2018 5:37 AM CST

There was a lot going on in the House Intelligence Committee memo declassified Friday by President Trump, but a key allegation was that the FBI didn't divulge the partisan leanings of dossier author Christopher Steele during the application process for surveillance on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The memo charged that neither the initial FISA application nor any of its renewals made mention of the "DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding" the dossier, despite "senior and FBI officials" knowing of its "political origins." But the Washington Post interviews two US officials who dispute that claim and say the DOJ did note "the research was being paid for by a political entity," although the DNC and Clinton weren't specifically named. Devin Nunes, intel committee chair, addressed the discrepancy Monday on Fox & Friends, minimizing what he called a "footnote."

"A footnote saying something may be political is a far cry from letting the American people know that the Democrats and the Hillary campaign paid for dirt that the FBI then used to get a warrant on an American citizen to spy on another campaign," he said, leading New York to riff: "So now the main attack on the FBI is about font size." Page himself appeared on Laura Ingraham's show Monday, calling the memo "worse than I could have possibly imagined," per Politico, which noted Page "mostly continued his habit of dodging questions about his connections to Russia" during the interview. Meanwhile, in what's being billed an "unusual motion," the New York Times asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to release secret files on Page's surveillance, saying Trump himself has already flouted that secrecy by releasing the Nunes memo. (It's up to Trump now whether the Dems' own memo will see the light of day.)

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