Guest hosting on Maddow last night Joy Ann Reid discussed with former U.S. Attorney Neal Katyal exactly how Devin Nunes “Secret Memos” were derived with the help of Paul Ryan from classified documents in an effort to justify the conspiracy theory that for some wild reason (Republican FBI Director) James Comey had plotted with (Republican Deputy AG) Rod Rosenstein to install (Republican Special Counsel) Robert Mueller using “illegal” wiretaps of people such as Carter Page (by legally obtaining a FISA Warrant on Page way back in 2014) and something something…
Reid details how FBI Director Chris Wray and Deputy Director Rosenstein had been in a legal battle over documents with Rep. Devin Nunes and had come to Paul Ryan’s office on January 3rd asking for his help — but Ryan refused and sided with Nunes. The documents were provided in a secure room, and then Nunes created a set of talking points from the classified information which claims that the FBI and DOJ were somehow corrupted by “Deep State” actors. The DOJ complained releasing this information would be “extremely reckless” but again Ryan sided with Nunes.
All of this is part of a plot to dismiss Rod Rosenstein largely because he stands squarely in the way of Trump firing Robert Mueller which he attempted first last June, until he was block by White House Counsel Don McGahn’s threat to resign.
It’s already been well argued by other members of the House Intelligence committee, such as Ranking member Adam Schiff, that the Nunes Memos are a hatchet job.
Chris Hayes: What is this memo?
Schiff: Well basically it’s something that Chairman Nunes had drafted to distort the facts, to mislead the House members and to carry political water for the White House. It’s really a continuation of what we saw back in March of last year when James Comey revealed there been a counter-intelligence investigation ongoing of the Trump organization. That was considered by the Republicans such as disaster that it was immediately, the next night, that the Chairman went on this midnight run to the White House and propertied got documents somewhere, he was provided by the White House showing corruption in the Obama Administration of the Intelligence Community. Of course we later learned that that was a fraud, that he obtained those materials from the White House itself. Now we have the same, a similar effort by the Chairman to put out this spinning, uh, this spin memo on the same lines.
If there argument here somehow Rosenstein who wasn’t even confirmed as Deputy AG until April 2017 and Mueller who wasn’t involved in this process until he was appointed by Rosenstein last May somehow plotted to have Carter Page surveilled back in 2014 when Russian intelligence officer Evgeny Buryakov was prosecuted for trying to recruit him as an asset, and then Russia targeted him again in May of 2016 — then they need to explain how they got ahold of Ole Doc Brown’s Delorian to travel Back From the Future.
All of this is merely an elaborate scheme to smear the DOJ and FBI because they are increasingly likely to produce highly incriminating information about Trump’s dealing with Russia in the coming weeks which may lead to further indictments and potentially impeachment charges.
Arguably, that core of that information has already been produced in George Papadopoulos guilty plea documents which indicate that he was informed that Russia had committed cyber-crimes to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails as early as April of 2016 — months before that information was pubically known — and he and the Trump campaign did absolutely nothing to inform the FBI and authorities, however diplomats from Australia actually did after Papadopoulos managed to drunkenly spill this information to them.
Getting Rosenstein and Mueller out of the way would allow the GOP to dismiss any of the findings of the Special Counsel as “biased and corrupt” thereby shielding the Trump administration for their actions — and inactions — regarding Russia’s attacks on American Democracy.
And to think, the GOP used to be the “pro law and order” party.