Sara Carter: Republicans Refute ‘Point by Point’ Democratic Memo on Dossier
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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said the Democratic opposition memo did not change the facts or change the outcome of the investigation’s finding his committee released in their own partisan memo several weeks ago.
On Saturday the much anticipated Democratic memo written by ranking minority member of the committee Rep. Adam Schiff, D-CA, was released and surmised that former British spy “Christopher Steele’s raw intelligence reporting did not inform the FBI’s decision to initiate its counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016” among other assertions. The dossier played a significant role in the investigation into President Trump’s 2016 campaign and alleged that members of the Trump campaign were colluding with the Russian government against then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“The American people now clearly understand that the FBI used political dirt paid for by the Democratic Party to spy on an American citizen from the Republican Party”
Nunes, R-CA, fought back Saturday against Schiff. Nunes said the Democratic memo did not dispel the original findings of the committee, which he noted were also validated by an investigation headed by the Senate Judiciary Committee into Steele and his role in providing the FBI with the unverified dossier. Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, made a criminal referral to the Department of Justice last month and released their findings after receiving approval from the FBI.
“The American people now clearly understand that the FBI used political dirt paid for by the Democratic Party to spy on an American citizen from the Republican Party,” said Nunes in a statement released Saturday. “Furthermore, the FISA court was misled about Mr. Page’s past interactions with the FBI in which he helped build a case against Russian operatives in America who were brought to justice,” said Nunes, in a statement.”
“It defies belief that the Department of Justice and FBI failed to provide information to a secret court that they had provided to an open federal court regarding their past interactions with Mr. Page, ” Nunes said.
Carter Page told this reporter Saturday that the accusations made against him in the Democratic memo will backfire and he is requesting that all his FISA applications be made public.
He said the “latest smear campaign by DNC loyalists is going to turn out the same way as their original multimillion-dollar attack of 2016.”
“As we’ve seen many times before with the felonious news leaks of the past year, this new round of misinformation surrounding efforts by Washington to illegally influence the 2016 election inflicts even more damages on the instigating perpetrators from the swamp,” he said. “Today’s memo further underscores the critical importance of the immediate disclosure of all my FISA applications and other relevant documents.
The documents have also been requested by the House Intelligence Committee, both Congressional Judiciary Committees, Judicial Watch, the New York Times and Yale Law School, he added.
However, in a point by point rebuttal of Schiff’s memo, Republican’s point out that it was not the case. But rather, the FBI obscured the fact that the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee actually began funding Steele through the Fusion GPS research firm beginning in April 2016.
“The Republican statement went on to say that the footnote obscures, rather than clarifies Steele’s political motivation”
“As clearly stated in the GOP memo, none of the Page FISA applications “disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele’s efforts,” stated a point by point document released Saturday from the Republican committee members. “Instead, the FISA application relies on a convoluted statement buried in a footnote. This is clearly an attempt to avoid informing the Court, in a straightforward manner that the DNC and Clinton campaign paid for the dossier. (Taking a cue from DOJ and FBI, the Democrat memo omits any reference to the DNC or Clinton campaign.)”
The Republican statement went on to say that the “footnote obscures, rather than clarifies Steele’s political motivation — and what DOJ and FBI officials actually knew about the dossier’s political origins. The footnote “speculates” on the “likely” motivation of “U.S. Person”
Republican Response Point-By-Point:
Democrats: Christopher Steele’s raw intelligence reporting did not inform the FBI’s decision to initiate its counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016.Republicans: As stated in the declassified GOP memo on FISA abuse, information about Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos “triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in the late July 2016 by FBI agent Peter Strzok.” Once underway, the investigation was fueled by Christopher Steele’s dossier, which the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) used to get a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant on Carter Page. DOJ and FBI’s reliance on the DNC – and Clinton – campaign funded dossier in court filings, not the overall investigation, is the focus of the GOP memo.
Democrats: DOJ’s FISA warrant application was based on “compelling evidence” and “probable cause” of Page’s pre-campaign activities.
Republicans: The Democrat memo fails to explain why, if evidence of Page’s past activities was so compelling, the Steele dossier was used in the FISA application at all, much less formed the “bulk” of the Page FISA application.
The Democrat memo also fails to explain why, if DOJ and FBI had “probable cause” that Page was a Russian agent, they waited until shortly after receiving the Steele dossier to seek a warrant. (As noted on page 3 of the Democrat memo, the dossier “reach[ed] the counterintelligence team investigating Russia at FBI headquarters” in “mid – September 2016,” just a few weeks before the initial FISA application.)
By participating in voluntary interviews with FBI, Page cooperated with the successful prosecution of the Russian intelligence officer who called him “an idiot” — and two of his colleagues.
Democrats: A specific subsection of the Page FISA application refers to Steele’s reporting on Page and his alleged coordination with Russian officials.
Republicans: As confirmed by Senators Grassley and Graham’s criminal referral of Steele, the dossier formed “a significant portion ” of the Carter Page FISA application.
Democrats: DOJ provided additional information obtained through multiple independent sources that corroborated Steele’s reporting.
Republicans: At the time of the initial application, all of the Steele dossier’s specific claims about Page — including that he met with Igor Sechin and Igor Diveykin in Moscow in July 2016 — were uncorroborated by any independent source, and they remain unconfirmed.
Republicans: As clearly stated in the GOP memo, none of the Page FISA applications “disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele’s efforts.”
Instead, the FISA application relies on a convoluted statement buried in a footnote. This is clearly an attempt to avoid informing the Court, in a straightforward manner that the DNC and Clinton campaign paid for the dossier. (Taking a cue from DOJ and FBI, the Democrat memo omits any reference to the DNC or Clinton campaign.)
Moreover, the footnote obscures, rather than clarifies Steele’s political motivation — and what DOJ and FBI officials actually knew about the dossier’s political origins. The footnote “speculates” on the “likely” motivation of “U.S. Person” — Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson — while intimating that “Source #1” — Steele — was unaware “as to the motivation behind the research.” In fact, as disclosed in the GOP memo and confirmed by the Graham – Grassley referral, Steele was motivated by a “desperate” desire to keep Donald Trump from becoming President.
Democrats: DOJ explained the FBI’s reasonable basis for finding Steele credible
Republicans: FBI’s reliance on Steele’s credibility was badly misplaced. Steele violated FBI’s trust by making unauthorized disclosures to the media in October 2016, resulting in his termination as an FBI source.
Moreover, as explained in Senators Graham and Grassley’s declassified criminal referral of Steele, he “told the FBI he had not shared the Carter Page dossier information beyond his client [Glenn Simpson] and FBI,” and DOJ “repeated that claim to the FISC” — four times. In reality, in September 2016 — before the initial FISA application — Steele had personally shared dossier information with:
- Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News, which published a September 2016 article on Page using Steele’s information (as now publicly confirmed by Isikoff);
- At least four other U.S. media outlets (confirmed in Steele’s May 2017 U.K. court filing, which was made before — but not disclosed in the June 2017 FISA renewal);
- Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, whose wife was employed by Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on Trump (as described in the GOP memo);
- A senior State Department official, Jonathan Winer (publicly confirmed by Winer in a Washington Post op-ed);
- Perkins Coie, the law firm for DNC and the Clinton campaign (as described in the GOP memo).
Democrats: The GOP memo does not cite evidence that Steele disclosed to Yahoo News details included in the FISA warrant.
Democrats: DOJ never paid Steele for the “dossier”
Republicans: As clearly stated in the GOP memo, FBI authorized payment to Steele for the dossier information — before he was terminated as an FBI source for making unauthorized disclosures to the media. This financial motivation was not disclosed to the Court.
Democrats: The GOP memo’s reference to Bruce Ohr is misleading.
Republicans: Steele’s desperation to keep Donald Trump from becoming President — described in the GOP memo and confirmed by the Graham – Grassley referral — was known to senior DOJ official Bruce Ohr before the initial FISA application, and known to FBI before any of the renewals. (The summary of Ohr’s first interview with FBI about Steele is dated November 22, 2016.)
Remarkably, neither Steele’s bias, nor Ohr’s relationship with Steele or the FBI, nor the fact that Ohr’s wife worked for Fusion GPS on its DNC – and Clinton campaign – funded Trump research, was disclosed to the Court in any of the FISA applications.
Democrats: Peter Strzok and Lisa Page’s text messages are irrelevant to the FISA application.
Republicans: Strzok opened the counterintelligence investigation of which the Carter Page FISA application was a part. Additionally, both Strzok and Lisa Page were members of the team conducting the investigation, which page 3 of the Democrat memo itself describes as “so closely held.” Especially given the small size of the team, the apparent bias of the investigators displayed in Strzok – Page text messages is highly relevant to an analysis of the investigation, including the controversial decision to seek a FISA war.
