The country is on pins and needles counting down hours for President Trump to approve and declassify the explosive and already contentious Secret Memo alleging government surveillance abuses by the FBI and DOJ against the Trump campaign.
According to a White House spokesperson, he is expected to approve the release of the currently declassified memo “probably tomorrow” meaning on Friday, ignoring the last-minute attempts by the FBI and Democrats to stop its release.
“The President is OK with it,” said a White House official. “I doubt there will be any redactions. It’s in Congress’ hands after that.
The document allegedly contains proof that some top officials in the Obama-era FBI and DOJ may have abused their authority to obtain surveillance warrants on members of a political opponent – the Trump 2016 campaign.
The yet-to-be-declassified FISA Memo by House Intel Committee Chairman Devine Nunes (L) is causing concern in Capitol Hill. McCabe, (2nd L), Rosenstein (C) and Comey (R).
The Secret (intel) Memo is a product of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devine Nunes with fellow Intel Committee members and staff, and is based on classified information turned over by the FBI and Justice Department.
The FBI issued an extraordinary public statement in opposition to the memo’s release claiming that doing so would jeopardize sensitive information on the processes and methods of intelligence gathering.
The White House dismissed those concerns by stating that proper Congressional procedures had been followed to ensure that “it doesn’t give away too much in terms of classification.”
Both the DOJ and FBI are opposed to President Trump’s declassification and release of a “secret memo” exposing abuses of FISA on Trump Campaign.
“The President has reviewed the memo and the White House made the decision after concluding, despite agency pleas, that it doesn’t give away too much in terms of classification.”
After failing to stop its release including last minute accusations that the document had been comprised by changing the content, Democrats drafted their own memo in a bid to muddy the waters and to undermine the authenticity of the Secret Memo. The Democrats version was denied release.
A White House official confirmed that the president has read the contentious memo.
House Speaker Paul Ryan backed up the Devine Nunes and the President justifying their position to release the memo on Civil Liberties grounds.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devine Nunes has kept the memo secret causing panic among top FBI and DOJ officials. Credit: AP
“Remember, FISA is a unique situation, which involves Americans’ civil liberties and if Americans’ civil liberties were abused, then that needs to come to light so that doesn’t happen again. What this is not is an indictment on our institutions, of our justice system, this memo is not an indictment of the FBI, of the Department of Justice, it does not impugn the Mueller investigation or the deputy attorney general,’ Ryan said in West Virginia at a GOP retreat.
“What it is, is the Congress’ legitimate function of oversight to make sure that the FISA process is being used correctly and that if it wasn’t being used correctly that needs to come to light and people need to be held accountable so we do not have problems again because this does affect our civil liberties.”
Speaker Ryan also described it as “Congress doing its job and conducting legitimate oversight over a very unique law, FISA.”
The Devine Nunes Secret Memo alleges corruption and abuses by top FBI and DOJ on FISA warrants on Trump Campaign. Credit: AP
According to Investigative Reporter Sarah Carter who has spent a year digging out the documents, the memo argues that the FBI and DOJ abused the FISA application process when they relied on the infamous Steele dossier to get a surveillance warrant to spy on members of the Trump campaign during election 2016.
The Secret Memo also alleges that the DOJ abused the FISA Court application after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein lied to the court and approved the warrant application in using the Hillary Clinton-funded fake “dirty dossier” against President Trump.
The House Intelligence Committee voted on Monday to release the memo to the American public to prove the improper use of surveillance by the FBI in its Russia investigation. House rules dictate that the legislature can vote to declassify material in the public interest stipulating the president must approve its release within 5 days.
White House Chief of Staff General John Kelly (L) approves of releasing the memo. Credit: AFP/Getty Images
Following the President’s approval, the memo will be transferred back to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence who will then publicly release it.
The President is said to have reviewed the memo after the Committee voted to declassify it on Monday. Administration officials insisted the memo was undergoing a thorough national security review before any decision on its release.
Democrats are on the losing end, and they are panicking as the showdown to ‘Release The Memo’ draws nigh. In desperation, they have changed their arguments every minute, misleading the public in a concerted effort to undermine the document and muddy the waters before its release.
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