The document reveals that a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was led, or misled, into authorizing spying on Carter Page, a Trump campaign volunteer, on the basis of information provided by Christopher Steele, a British spy-for-hire working for the opposition research firm Fusion GPS-which was itself ultimately working for the DNC. FBI and Justice Department officials failed to reveal this context to the FISC, according to the memo, "Even though it was known by DOJ at the time that political actors were involved in the Steele dossier." James Comey and Andrew McCabe, then the FBI's director and deputy director, were among the officials who signed requests for authorization and renewal of surveillance of Page.
As the House committee's memo reports, "This article does not corroborate the Steele dossier because it is derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo News." Steele was eventually "Suspended and then terminated as an FBI source" because he disclosed his contacts with the FBI to another journalist, David Corn of the left-leaning Mother Jones.
Were the FBI and Justice Department officials in question simply negligent in failing to inform the FISC about the partisan background to the claims Steele was making? The memo reveals that "Before and after Steele was terminated as a source" by the FBI, he was in contact with then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, "a senior DOJ official who worked closely with Deputy Attorneys General Yates and later Rosenstein." Steele told Ohr that he "Was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president." As it happens, Ohr's wife was an employee of Fusion GPS and working on anti-Trump opposition research for the firm, research also ultimately paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign.
"The Ohrs' relationship with Steele and Fusion GPS was inexplicably concealed from the FISC," the memo relates.
The memo concludes that while the FISC application "Relied on Steele's past record of credible reporting on other unrelated matters, it ignored or concealed his anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations." What's more, "Deputy Director McCabe testified before the in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information."
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court did not hear about that, nor was it told that, as the memo reports, "The FBI had separately authorized payment to Steele for the same information."
How the Steele dossier was used to draw an only selectively informed FISC into authorization surveillance of Page is the main thrust of the memo.
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-the-nunes-memo-devastating-blow-the-deep-state-24338
As the House committee's memo reports, "This article does not corroborate the Steele dossier because it is derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo News." Steele was eventually "Suspended and then terminated as an FBI source" because he disclosed his contacts with the FBI to another journalist, David Corn of the left-leaning Mother Jones.
Were the FBI and Justice Department officials in question simply negligent in failing to inform the FISC about the partisan background to the claims Steele was making? The memo reveals that "Before and after Steele was terminated as a source" by the FBI, he was in contact with then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, "a senior DOJ official who worked closely with Deputy Attorneys General Yates and later Rosenstein." Steele told Ohr that he "Was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president." As it happens, Ohr's wife was an employee of Fusion GPS and working on anti-Trump opposition research for the firm, research also ultimately paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign.
"The Ohrs' relationship with Steele and Fusion GPS was inexplicably concealed from the FISC," the memo relates.
The memo concludes that while the FISC application "Relied on Steele's past record of credible reporting on other unrelated matters, it ignored or concealed his anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations." What's more, "Deputy Director McCabe testified before the in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information."
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court did not hear about that, nor was it told that, as the memo reports, "The FBI had separately authorized payment to Steele for the same information."
How the Steele dossier was used to draw an only selectively informed FISC into authorization surveillance of Page is the main thrust of the memo.
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-the-nunes-memo-devastating-blow-the-deep-state-24338
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