REACTION TO THE FISA MEMO

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Have you read the FISA memo, which reportedly exposes alarming bias and abuses of authority
by a few top leaders in both the FBI and DOJ? What is your reaction?

As reported, the memo reveals that former FBI Director James Comey and others in his agency
and top leaders at DOJ utilized and politicized our nation's spying tools to spy on an opposition political party and an incoming president in an election year.  How frightening that is!

As a former federal prosecutor, I reviewed countless search warrant and Title III applications. I would never have participated in deceptions as described in this memo. Also, I never saw any of the fine FBI agents I worked with pull a stunt like this! And I am shocked and appalled to learn that, in this case, a few misguided lawyers and agents, in an election year, would apply for a FISA warrant utilizing the dirty dossier, when they reportedly knew it was bogus, and also without disclosing to the FISA court that the dossier was actually opposition research bought and paid for by Clinton and the Democrat Party. If proven, this will go down as one of the biggest political scandals in American history.

Many questions still remain:

• Will a new special counsel be appointed to clean up this mess?
• Will there be other revelations of corruption by this small group?
• Will the FISA court take action against any culprits who allegedly abused the FISA process?
• Will the main stream media ever even acknowledge any of this corruption?  

Before closing, I want to emphasize that I proudly worked, side by side, with countless outstanding FBI special agents for over twenty years. They are not to blame. The reported corruption in this situation clearly exists only at headquarters and not in the field.

What is your opinion of this colossal mess?

UPDATE REGARDING FISA MEMO

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Here's a tart response today to the FBI and DOJ complaints about the FISA memo's release from the House Intelligence Commitee Chairman Devin Nunes at the House's website:

“Having stonewalled Congress’ demands for information for nearly a year, it’s no surprise to see the FBI and DOJ issue spurious objections to allowing the American people to see information related to surveillance abuses at these agencies. The FBI is intimately familiar with ‘material omissions’ with respect to their presentations to both Congress and the courts, and they are welcome to make public, to the greatest extent possible, all the information they have on these abuses. Regardless, it’s clear that top officials used unverified information in a court document to fuel a counter-intelligence investigation during an American political campaign. Once the truth gets out, we can begin taking steps to ensure our intelligence agencies and courts are never misused like this again.” 

OUCH!!  It's getting hotter in D.C. and the memo hasn't even been released yet! What do you think?!

SHOULD THE FISA MEMO BE RELEASED?

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Should the controversial FISA memo be released to the public? According to news reports, the four page memo outlines FBI and DOJ abuses of their surveillance powers, in order to spy on the President's campaign and transition teams.  In a nutshell, the allegations are that agents sympathetic to the Clinton campaign utilized the largely unsubstantiated Russian "dirty" dossier, paid for by Clinton and the DNC, to apply for FISA warrants to spy on an opposition candidate (and new president) during an election year. If that happened, then this would clearly be one of the largest political scandals in American history.

The House Intelligence Committee has already voted for its release.  But the FBI and DOJ have reportedly objected to its release.  FBI Director Christopher Wray has even complained that the memo is inaccurate. However, House Speaker Paul Ryan has gone on record stating that the memo should be released in order to help "cleanse" the FBI and DOJ.

It is now up to the President.  He is reportedly having the memo reviewed, but last evening, after his State of the Union speech, he promised its prompt release.

What is your opinion? Should it be released? As a former federal prosecutor, I say let the cleansing begin!