Good Lord—what is our nation coming to? After the Justice Department sent a sharply worded warning letter to House Intelligence chair Devin Nunes Wednesday, Politico reports that Nunes and his GOP buddies on the committee plan to proceed with sending the White House a conspiracy-laden memo blasting the FBI for possible public release.
POLITICO contacted or reviewed statements by the committee’s 13 Republicans, and found near-unanimous support for making public the memo, which Democrats call a misleading effort to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Trump’s ties to Russia.
A vote by the committee — expected as soon as Wednesday — to release the controversial document would put its fate into the hands of President Donald Trump, who has not taken a clear position on its public disclosure.
Oh, c'mon, this is the guy who invited Russians into the Oval Office then hastened to fumble sensitive Israeli intelligence to them. He both literally and figuratively doesn't even know the meaning of the word intelligence.
The committee sentiment suggests that House Republicans are unfazed by a top Justice Department official’s warning that doing so without first consulting the department would be “extraordinarily reckless,” and underscores the GOP’s determination to shift attention from Russian election influence onto alleged anti-Trump bias among federal Russia investigators.
That Justice Department letter, written by Trump appointee Stephen Boyd, raised more than a few concerns about releasing the memo, not least of which was the fact that most of the committee members (basically everyone other than Rep. Trey Gowdy) haven't even personally reviewed the materials it was based on, including its author, the White House errand boy himself.
Republicans have also refused to let the Justice Department and FBI review the contents of the memo before its release.
"Indeed, we do not understand why the Committee would possibly seek to disclose classified and law enforcement sensitive information without first consulting with the relevant members of the Intelligence Community,” Boyd wrote. "You well understand the damaging impact that the release of classified material could have on our national security and our ability to share and receive sensitive information from friendly foreign governments."
Politico further reports:
With all nine committee Democrats opposed to releasing the memo, two of the three Republicans who haven't finalized their positions would need to oppose its release to stop the effort from moving forward. But they've shown no sign of doing so, and their committee colleagues expressed confidence the votes are in hand.
In the interview, [Rep Peter] King accused the Justice Department of seeking access to the memo in order to "tear it down before it even gets out there."
"We're not going to show it to the Justice Department," King said. "[Nunes] fully intends to go ahead."
Democrats on the House Intel panel are working to compile their own response to the Nunes memo but that too will be subject to a committee vote for release. Gee, wonder which way that vote is headed.