Republican memo critical of FBI published after Trump clears path
WASHINGTON: A committee of the US House of Representatives on Friday released a previously secret memo—after President Donald Trump refused to block it — that accuses FBI of launching a Russia probe against a Trump campaign operative using questionable methods and evidence.
The four-page memo, written by Republicans on the committee, raised questions about the “legitimacy” and “legality” of the permission obtained by the FBI to surveil Carter Page, calling it “a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process”.
The reference was to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, also called the FISA Court.
The memo says an FBI official acknowledged to lawmakers that a dossier compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele was an “essential part” of an application for surveillance of Page.
The memo, which alleges antitrump bias at the FBI and justice department, said none of the surveillance requests for Page submitted by the justice department disclosed that the Democratic Party paid for the dossier.
The memo quoted Steele as telling a justice department official he was “desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.”
Earlier in the day, while announcing he was not blocking the memo, Trump said, “A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that.”
The FBI and the justice department had opposed the release of the memo.
The FBI said it had “grave concerns” about the accuracy of the information in the document and that its release could compromise intelligence gathering.
Ahead of clearing the way for the memo’s release, Trump sent out a tweet critical of the department of justice and the FBI.
“The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!,” he wrote.