07-29-2018, 01:55 PM
So, I'm interested. In light of the actual text of the of the FISA application, is there anyone here who cares to defend then Nunes memo?
The memo states its purpose to be to "[provide] Members an update on significant facts relating to the Committee's ongoing investigation". (emph mine)
The FBI was very concerned about the memo, saying "we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy".
The FBI's concerns were borne out completely. Specifically, in the section where the memo purports to inform members about the application's discussion of the political origins of the dossier, it spends two paragraphs describing things the application did not mention -- the DNC, Clinton, the DNC again, Clinton again, etc. But it wholly omits all of the application's actual discussion of the political origins of the dossier. Specifically, the application says "the FBI speculates that the identified US person was likely looking for information that could be used to discredit Candidate #1's campaign", but the memo makes no mention of this.
There is no universe in which an update on the significant facts of the FISA application's discussion of the political origins of the dossier would fail to mention that the application says that it was likely created for the purpose of discrediting Trump's campaign. Yet that's just what Nunes did. And he intended his memo to be published in a vacuum -- as the only discussion available of the application's contents. I can't see how any would see Nunes's memo as anything other than a deliberate attempt to mislead its audience through omission. But I'm sure someone here sees it differently.
The memo states its purpose to be to "[provide] Members an update on significant facts relating to the Committee's ongoing investigation". (emph mine)
The FBI was very concerned about the memo, saying "we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy".
The FBI's concerns were borne out completely. Specifically, in the section where the memo purports to inform members about the application's discussion of the political origins of the dossier, it spends two paragraphs describing things the application did not mention -- the DNC, Clinton, the DNC again, Clinton again, etc. But it wholly omits all of the application's actual discussion of the political origins of the dossier. Specifically, the application says "the FBI speculates that the identified US person was likely looking for information that could be used to discredit Candidate #1's campaign", but the memo makes no mention of this.
There is no universe in which an update on the significant facts of the FISA application's discussion of the political origins of the dossier would fail to mention that the application says that it was likely created for the purpose of discrediting Trump's campaign. Yet that's just what Nunes did. And he intended his memo to be published in a vacuum -- as the only discussion available of the application's contents. I can't see how any would see Nunes's memo as anything other than a deliberate attempt to mislead its audience through omission. But I'm sure someone here sees it differently.