Donald Trump Is Already Using The Nunes Memo To Undermine The Russia Investigation

Just a day after the release of an underwhelming Republican-authored House Intelligence Committee memo alleging inappropriate law enforcement spying on Donald Trump s campaign, President Donald Trump is already using it to cast aspersions on the investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trumps pronouncement, issued in a Saturday morning tweet, supports the widely held view that the four-page partisan memo was designed to help Trump scuttle special counsel Robert Muellers probe into Russian interference and to cover up Trump campaign officials potential collusion with Russia.

This memo totally vindicates Trump in probe, Trump tweeted. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their [sic] was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction.

This is an American disgrace! he added.

This memo totally vindicates Trump in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Donald J. Trump","author_url":"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump","cache_age":86400,"description":"This memo totally vindicates Trump in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018\n\n","provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Donald J. 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This memo totally vindicates Trump in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018

The so-called Nunes memo , written by the GOP staff of House Intelligence Committee chairman and Trump transition team member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), notes that the FBI and the Department of Justice relied in part on the infamous Steele dossier to pursue a secret warrant to surveil former Trump aide Carter Page . The FBI and DOJ obtained a warrant from a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA Court, which authorizes the surveillances of suspected foreign spies inside the United States.

The Steele dossier is a file former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele compiled about Trumps involvement with the Russian government. The veracity of some of the more fantastical aspects of the dossier is highly disputed.

By failing to notify the FISA judge that a Democratic-backed firm seeking dirt on Trump commissioned Steeles work and that the agent himself was opposed to Trumps election, FBI and DOJ officials had obtained the warrant improperly, according to the memo.

It is common for high-level informants to have ulterior motives, but that rarely precludes their information from being used.

And federal law enforcement officials would likely have been able to get authorization to surveil Page without the Steele dossier, since Page had long been on the federal governments radar as someone that Russian intelligence was trying to cultivate.