The Nunes memo is so weak that Rep. Adam Schiff was able to destroy the core premise behind it in less than ten seconds on ABC’s This Week.
Video:
Top House Intel Democrat @RepAdamSchiff tells @GStephanopoulos the FISA court was told “there was a political actor behind [the Steele dossier]†contradicting the declassified House GOP memo. #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/dZY9zvwU30
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 4, 2018
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Schiff was asked if the court was told that the Steele Dossier was funded by a political actor. The ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee answered, “Yes that there was a political actor behind it. This is again part of the misleading character of this document.”
Adam Schiff easily debunked the Nunes memo
The entire argument behind the memo is that the FBI lied to the FISA court and used a partisan political document to get a FISA warrant. It is the fruit of the poison tree argument that nothing obtained from or following the issuing of the FISA is valid, including the Mueller investigation, because of how the Carter Page warrant was obtained.
As Schiff demonstrated that argument is misleadingly false. The court did know about the source of the Steele Dossier funding, but more importantly, the Steele Dossier is not the evidentiary basis for the investigation. George Papadopoulos’ mouth is what got the FBI investigation going. The memo admits this fact in a single sentence the near the end of the document.
The fact that Schiff was able to debunk the memo in a few seconds tells you everything you need to know about the strength of Trump’s defense.
The memo has failed to protect the president. Trump is cornered, and he knows that Robert Mueller’s investigation is coming for him
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
