“(Jesus said), Pharisees… everything they do is for show.”
Matthew 23:5. NLT
The Nunes memo is out. I have read it, 3.5 pages, 1,332 words. Republicans should not have written, much less published, this partisan memo. Now that it’s out, I hope everyone will read it, and not rely on Trump Republican Defenders’ interpretation. I hope folks ask themselves these questions:
Who wrote it?
The memo is from unnamed staff at the House Committee on Intelligence, but is obviously written for political purposes. Committee chair Republican Nunes is responsible for every word allowed in, or kept out. Who is Nunes? He is a Trump loyalist, former Trump Transition Team Chair, who has already been caught last year inappropriately colluding with the White House to protect them from the very committee which is investigating Trump White House in a fair and bi-partisan way. There is nothing fair or bipartisan about the conduct of Nunes.
For whom was it written?
Nunes sent it to Committee Majority Members. In other words, Republicans wrote it for Republicans. They wrote it for public release, as a “secret” “classified” “explosive” “blockbuster” “shocking” document, with a carefully preplanned and executed publicity campaign.
Why was it written for public release?
The text of the document says it is an “update on significant facts.” But, there is nothing new in the memo, nothing unknown by the committee last year. Nor, is there anything in the memo that should be released to the public, especially before the FBI has completed their investigation and Mueller has submitted his report to the Department of Justice. Republicans wrote and published the memo to discredit the FBI investigation and help Trump defend himself from the investigation, who claims the memo “totally vindicates” him. That is not true, but this Republican action has nothing to do with truth. Everything they do is for show.
Why was the memo written/published?
The committee allegedly prepared the memo to provide “oversight” of organizations like FBI. Is that what happened here? Instead of calling in the FBI and providing oversight, in a bipartisan way, the republicans drafted memo without any democratic comment, and released to the public their version of why no one should believe the investigation, even before the FBI completes their investigation. The only reason to release this memo now is to influence the public against the investigation. That’s not oversight. That’s an effort to sway public opinion, at best; obstruction of the investigation, at worst.
Was the memo published for “transparency,” as claimed by House Speaker Paul Ryan?
There is nothing transparent about publishing the republican version, while withholding the democrat version. This is, what Anderson Cooper has correctly termed, “a crock.” It is partisan politics from a committee that should consider neutrality to be sacred.
What are the “significant facts” explosively revealed?
The memo claims bias and misrepresentations by the FBI and some folks they interviewed, which allegedly resulted in a misleading application for the court ordered wire tap of Carter Paige, former foreign policy advisor to Trump in the 2016 campaign. The Republican concern for due process for Carter Paige would be touching if sincere, but that is clearly not the issue here. If there was any impropriety in the legal processes, those are properly for the courts or legitimate oversight activity by the committee, not a public relations campaign by Republicans against an investigation that is still in process. Curiously, the memo does not dispute anything revealed in the court ordered wire tap.
Steele dossier not new and not materially inaccurate.
Similarly, there is much made of the “Steele dossier,” a report gathering negative information about Trump. The memo says that democrats paid for the report, so it is fraudulent in some unexplained way. Since the FBI read the document, and referred to the document, they are biased and fraudulent, as well, goes the argument. The Steele dossier was published last year and is not new. Christopher Steele is a respected former employee for British Intelligence. Upon retirement, he lawfully worked another company, hired first by republicans, not democrats, for negative research on Trump. Ultimately, democrats paid for a similar completed research. That is lawful. The republicans claim the report is “tainted” because democrats paid for it, ignoring the fact that republicans originally paid for it. Curiously, the memo does not dispute anything revealed in the Steele memo.
So what’s the issue?
The memo released by the republicans shows nothing material misstated or inaccurate in the Steele dossier or the information recovered in the court ordered wire tap. If the document were inaccurate, the oversight committee could address that issue. That’s not what happened here. Since the republicans cannot discredit the information in the Steele Dossier or the wiretaps of Carter Page, they claim the “process” is flawed. It’s a like the criminal who confessed to the crime, but alleges he was not given Miranda rights warnings. Even if the confession is correct, there is a legal argument against allowing the confession into evidence. The problem with that argument is that the FBI investigation is not yet completed, there is no criminal prosecution pending, and no evidence is offered. Even if everything in the Republican memo is true, it is premature, and there is no legitimate reason to make it public now, especially when the memo itself is so clearly partisan and biased. Nunes complains about alleged FBI bias against Trump, while he acts in a clearly biased and improper way against the FBI.
Why was it written and published?
If the memo has little or nothing that is new or explosive, what’s the big deal? Here’s the big deal… It’s like those rare and outrageous cases where a police officer shoots an unarmed suspect, and then secretly plants a gun on the suspect. The police officer says he saw a gun and gets away with it. The memo has Nunes’ distorted and bias opinions about the FBI investigation, and the republicans are counting on the fact that most of Trump supporters will believe Trump Republican Defenders’ assessments that the secret memo has shocking confidential information of FBI misconduct.
If and when the truth comes out, the Trump Republican Defenders will continue to cite the memo as their basis to discredit the investigation. It won’t matter to them that the memo is not true; what matters is whether Trump Republican Defenders can sell it, like planting a gun. Republicans are acting now to discredit the investigation, or worse. Truth has nothing to do with this memo. That’s why the Trump Republican Defenders were in such a hurry, with a Public Relations campaign before, during and after the republican majority publication of their memo, while withholding the democratic response. When the rest of the information comes out, if it ever comes out, Trump Republican Defenders will dismiss it as partisan “fake news,” and continue to refer to the Nunes’ memo, as if it were truth.
We are watching the Trump Republican Defenders attempt to get away with the murder of justice, fairness and due process of law. They are doing it the name of “transparency” and to allegedly show “bias” on the part of the FBI. The republican actions clearly lack transparency and are overflowing with their own partisan bias.
God help us.