‘Is this the KGB?’ Lawmakers call for public release of classified memo on FISA abuse

by WorldTribune Staff, January 19, 2018

Lawmakers are calling for the immediate public release of a classified memo they say shows senior Justice Department and FBI officials abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in investigating the Trump campaign.

Rep. Ron DeSantis, Florida Republican and a member of the House Judiciary Committee member, tweeted: “The classified report compiled by House Intelligence is deeply troubling and raises serious questions about the upper echelon of the Obama DOJ and Comey FBI as it relates to the so-called collusion investigation.”

Rep. Matt Gaetz: ‘I think that this will not end just with firings. I believe there are people who will go to jail.’ / Getty Images

“You think about, ‘is this happening in America or is this the KGB?’ That’s how alarming it is,” Rep. Scott Perry, Pennsylvania Republican, told Fox News.

DeSantis said the House Intelligence Committee should vote to make the report available to the public as soon as possible.

“While the report is classified as Top Secret, I believe the select committee should, pursuant to House rules, vote to make the report publicly available as soon as possible. This is a matter of national significance and the American people deserve the truth,” he said.

According to House Rules, if the House Intelligence Committee votes to make the report public, President Donald Trump would have five days to issue an objection. If he objected, it would go to a vote on the House floor to make the report public.

The House Intelligence Committee voted on Jan. 18 to make the memo available to all House members. Every Democrat on the committee voted against it.

According to Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican and a member of the Judiciary Committee, the memo’s contents could lead to the firing – and perhaps even jailing – of senior DOJ and FBI officials.

“I think that this will not end just with firings. I believe there are people who will go to jail,” Gaetz told Fox News’s Sean Hannity.

Gaetz said what he saw in the memo also explains why Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Judiciary Subcommittee Chairman Lindsey Graham have referred the Christopher Steele dossier for criminal investigation.

“I think there will be criminal implications here,” Gaetz added.

The memo is “troubling. It is shocking,” Rep. Mark Meadows, North Carolina Republican, told Fox News. “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.”

Judiciary Committee member Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican, called what he saw in the memo “sickening” and said it was “worse than Watergate.”


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