Democratic rebuttal to GOP FISA memo sparks reactions from politicians

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Democrats' FISA memo released by House Intel Committee

Democrats' response to the Republicans' memo regarding possible FISA abuses is released with redactions; Catherine Herridge discusses initial takeaways from the document.

The House Intelligence Committee on Saturday released a long-anticipated Democratic rebuttal that attempts to dismantle claims made in a GOP memo alleging the government used improper surveillance tactics during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The rebuttal claims that officials at the FBI and Justice Department “did not abuse the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process, omit material information, or subvert this vital tool to spy on the Trump campaign.”

The Democratic rebuttal backed the FBI and DOJ in its pursuit of the FISA warrant, saying that the agencies “would have been remiss in their duty to protect the country had they not sought a FISA warrant and repeated renewals to conduct temporary surveillance of Carter Page, someone the FBI assessed to be an agent of the Russian government.”

They added that the DOJ met the “rigor, transparency, and evidentiary basis” needed to meet FISA’s probable cause requirement.

The GOP memo, released in early February, asserted that the FBI and DOJ relied on a Democrat-funded anti-Trump dossier to ask the FISA court for a warrant to monitor Page, a one-time adviser to President Donald Trump. They also claimed that the agencies left out the DNC’s funding of the dossier and the anti-Trump motivations of author Christopher Steele, a onetime British spy, in its request for a warrant.

The Democratic memo was voted out of committee earlier this month but a redrafting was ordered after the White House demanded that sensitive information be stripped out before the document be made public. The Justice Department and FBI claimed the initial draft would reveal information about sources and methods, ongoing investigations and other sensitive information.

President Trump tweeted following the rebuttal memo's release, calling it "a total political and legal BUST."

He added: "Dem Memo: FBI did no disclose who the client were - the Clinton Campaign and the DNC. Wow!"

Here are some other reactions to the memo:

White House

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders calls the rebuttal a “politically driven document” which “fails to answer serious concerns raised by the Majority’s memorandum about the use of partisan opposition research from one candidate, loaded with uncorroborated allegations, as a basis to ask a court to approve surveillance of a former associate of another candidate, at the height of a presidential campaign.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Ranking Democrat Adam Schiff, who spearheaded the rebuttal's release, said it should "put to rest" any concerns about conduct by the intelligence agencies. Along with a copy of the memo, he tweeted Saturday: "Some time ago, Republicans on our committee released a declassified memo that omitted and distorted key facts in order to mislead the public and impugn the integrity of the FBI. We can now tell you what they left out."

In a follow-up tweet, Schiff responded to Trump's comment about the memo confirming "all of the terrible things that were done."

"Wrong again, Mr. President," Schiff said. "It confirms the FBI acted appropriately and that Russian agents approached two of your advisors, and informed your campaign that Russia was prepared to help you by disseminating stolen Clinton emails."

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.

House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, D-Calif., who spearheaded the release of the GOP memo, said in a statement that Americans "now clearly understand that the FBI used political dirt pair for the by Democratic Party to spy on an American citizen from the Republican Party."

"Furthermore, the FISA court was misled about Mr. Page's past interactions with the FBI in which he helped build a case against Russian operatives in America who were brought to justice," Nunes said. "It defies belief that the Department of Justice and the FBI failed to provide information to a secret court that they had provided to an open federal court regarding their past interactions with Mr. Page."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., tweeted that "the Schiff memo is a well-considered rebuttal to the misinformation in the Nunes memo," which she added, "shouldn't have seen the light of day."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Democratic memo indicated "that Chairman Nunes cherry-picked and distorted information from sensitive inteligence to sow discord and undermine" the FBI.

"By initially delaying the release of hte memo, the president purposefully silenced any Democratic rebuttal to the fabricated conspiracy theories pushed by Chairman Nunes," he added. "Obviously, there is something the president is afraid of."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a statement said the Democratic response "helps set the record straight on Republicans' attempts to obstruct the investigation into the Trump-Russia scandal."

She added that it was "imperative" for lawmakers on the other side of the aisle to "end their political charades" and said Congress needed to "take real action to investigate the Russian attacks on our democracy."

Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA

Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, called the FBI's actions "fully appropriate and entirely lawful" and said it was "deeply unfortunate that House Republicans decided to the release classified information in order to mislead the American people for partisan political purposes."

"Now that the Nunes memo has been thoroughly debunked, the White House and its allies in Congress must put a stop to the dangerous partisan sideshows that jeopardize classified sources and methods and focus on Russia's unprecedented interference in our election."

Fox News' Adam Shaw, Madeline Farber and Kaitlyn Scallhorn contributed to this report.