Republicans demand release of secret memo about how Obama’s DOJ and FBI abused surveillance powers during election – and compare them to the KGB – as Russian bots tweet ‘#ReleaseTheMemo’
- Four-page memo from the Justice Department allegedly spells out how Obama officials used the ‘dirty dossier’ to get wiretap warrants and spy on Trump
- House Intel Committee Republicans want it released to the public; Democrats have voted against even sharing it with non committee-members in Congress
- One Pennslyvania Republican congressman said: ‘You think about, “Is this happening in America or is this the KGB?” That’s how alarming it is’
- A Florida member said ‘heads are going to roll at the FBI and the Department of Justice. There is no way everyone keeps their job’
- ‘#ReleaseTheMemo’ hashtag was trending Thursday and Friday, aided by Russian ‘bots’ that have blasted it out nonstop
Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee are demanding the public release of a Justice Department memo that reportedly exposes the Obama administration’s attempt to spy on Trump campaign officials during the 2016 election season.
The four-page memo was made available to members of Congress this week, following a party-line committee vote. Conservative lawmakers are insisting that the memo should be shared with the public.
National security journalist and Fox News contributor Sara Carter reported Thursday that the memo shows ‘extensive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse.’
Carter quoted an unnamed government official who said that ‘some of these people should no longer be in the government.’
Republican members of Congress like Jim Jordan of Ohio are demanding the public release of a DOJ memo that allegedly spells out how the Obama administration used a ‘dirty dossier’ of anti-Trump research to obtain search warrants to spy on the future president and his aides
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said that ‘if we get this memo into the public square, heads are going to roll at the FBI and the Department of Justice. There is no way everyone keeps their job’
Iowa Rep. Steve King called the scandal ‘worse than Watergate’ in a tweet
Rep. Ron DeSantis suggested Friday on Fox News that the memo describes abuses of FISA related to a salacious and unsubstantiated anti-Trump dossier funded by the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Asked if the dossier was used by Obama administration officials to spy on Trump officials, DeSantis said: ‘I think that’s one of the central issues in the memo and I definitely want all Americans to be able to read what actually happened in that respect.’
Other Republicans told Fox News that the alarming memo should be mad public immediately.
‘It is so alarming the American people have to see this,’ Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan said.
‘It’s troubling. It is shocking,’ added North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows.
‘Part of me wishes that I didn’t read it because I don’t want to believe that those kinds of things could be happening in this country that I call home and love so much.’
House Intelligence Committee Republicans led by chairman Devin Nunes (left) voted to release the memo to all of Congress, but committee Democrats led by Rep. Adam Schiff (right) all voted against it
A long line of GOP members are seen the memo but have to view it in a secure, classified room in the basement of the Capitol
Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry had equally harsh words about the Obama administration’s alleged spying.
‘You think about, “Is this happening in America or is this the KGB?” That’s how alarming it is,’ said Perry.
Iowa Rep. Steve King tweeted: ‘I have read the memo. The sickening reality has set in. I no longer hold out hope there is an innocent explanation for the information the public has seen. I have long said it is worse than Watergate.’
On Thursday the Intelligence Committee voted along party lines to allow all members of Congress to view the memo.
Another committee vote could pave the way for the memo’s public release, but the Trump administration would have a five-day window to object.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said Thursday night on the ‘Hannity’ program that ‘people will go to jail’ at the Justice Department and the FBI when details of Obama’s FISA abuses are made public.
‘If we get this memo into the public square, heads are going to roll at the FBI and the Department of Justice. There is no way everyone keeps their job,’ he said.
An opposition research firm hired former British spy Christopher Steele to compile a dossier of anti-Trump dirt in 2016, and Republicans fear the result was used illegally to get wiretaps on Trump campaign officials
Russian ‘bots’ on Twitter have been pushing the ‘#ReleaseTheMemo’ hashtag for the past 48 hours, stirring up controversy
The Twitter hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo was tweeted millions of times Thursday and Friday, with conservative members of Congress and Republican activists leading the charge.
The Alliance for Securing Democracy reported Friday that Russia-linked ‘bot’ Twitter accounts were blasting the hashtag out far more than any other.
Donald Trump Jr. said Friday on Twitter that Democrats in Congress were laser-focused on a government shutdown fght in order to draw the public’s attention away from the memo.
‘Prediction: Democrats will take an even stronger stance on shutting down the govt so that becomes the narrative rather than talking about the release of the apparently very damaging memo. Media will obviously be complicit in helping them! #releasethememo,’ he wrote.