Nunes memo

Last updated

Nunes memo Nunes Memo.pdf
Nunes memo
The U.S. Justice Department warned that the public release of a classified memo alleging abuses in FBI surveillance tactics would be "extraordinarily reckless without giving the Department and the FBI the opportunity to review the memorandum". Doj letter to nunes 180124.pdf
The U.S. Justice Department warned that the public release of a classified memo alleging abuses in FBI surveillance tactics would be "extraordinarily reckless without giving the Department and the FBI the opportunity to review the memorandum".

The Nunes memo (formally titled Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Abuses at the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation) [2] is a four-page memorandum written for U.S. Representative Devin Nunes by his staff and released to the public by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee on February 2, 2018. The memo alleges that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) "may have relied on politically motivated or questionable sources" to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant in October 2016 and in three subsequent renewals on Trump adviser Carter Page in the early phases of the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. [3]

Contents

Nunes was the chairman of the committee at the time and was a supporter of FISA surveillance extension. [4] [5] Former Trump campaign CEO and chief strategist Steve Bannon has described Nunes as Trump's second-strongest ally in Congress. [6] In April 2017, Nunes stepped aside from chairing the House Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation while the House Ethics Committee conducted an inquiry into whether Nunes had violated applicable ethics rules with respect to his apparent secret coordination with White House officials. Nunes then began his own parallel secret investigation. The Ethics Committee investigation ended in December 2017, after which Nunes claimed that he had never recused himself. [7] [8]

Republican legislators who favored public release of the memo argued that the memo presents evidence that a group of politically biased FBI employees abused the FISA warrant process for the purpose of undermining the Donald Trump presidency. [9] These congressmen alleged that there was excessive and improper dependence on the Steele dossier, which was funded in part by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee, when the Justice Department applied to the FISA court to conduct electronic surveillance on Trump aide Carter Page during the course of the campaign. [10] [11] Political allies of Donald Trump attempted to use the memo to pivot attention away from the Special Counsel investigation of the Trump presidential campaign's role in Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. [9] Prior to release of the memo, news media reported that Trump told his associates that release of the memo would discredit the investigation. [12] [13] [14]

A social media campaign, under the hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo, emerged in mid-January 2018 to publicly release the memo despite some of its classified contents. Journalist and national security advocacy groups reported that Russian-linked bots on Twitter helped spread the controversial hashtag. [15] [16] [17] [18] Trump approved release of the Republican document over the objections of the FBI and the U.S. Intelligence Community. [19] The FBI issued a rare statement expressing "grave concerns" about factual omissions and the accuracy of the memo. [19] [20] Within Congress, anticipation of the release of the memo sparked controversy, mainly along political lines. House Republicans released the memo on February 2, 2018.

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee prepared a classified 10 page rebuttal of claims in the Nunes memo, which was initially blocked for release. After the Nunes memo was released to the public, the House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously to release the Democrats' memo. [21] On February 9, Trump blocked release of the Democrats' memo, saying the committee should redact classified and sensitive material before releasing it to the public. [22] [23] A redacted version of the Democratic memo was ultimately released on February 24. [24]

Contents

The memo states that a FISA warrant on Carter Page was sought and obtained on October 21, 2016, and that there were three subsequent 90-day renewals. The memo notes that FISA submissions are classified information.

The memo "raise[s] concern as to the legitimacy and legality" of the FISA application process relating to Page, and that probable cause was not made in the warrant application. It makes five main points. First it alleges that the Steele dossier "formed an essential part of the Carter Page FISA application". The memo asserted that Christopher Steele was paid $160,000 by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. [25] In fact, Perkins Coie, which represented the DNC and Clinton campaign, had no contact with Steele, and never paid him directly. Instead, they paid Fusion GPS $1.02 million in fees and expenses, $168,000 of which was paid to Orbis by Fusion GPS and used by them to produce the dossier. [26] The DNC and Clinton campaign disclosed the total amount paid to Perkins Coie on campaign finance reports. [27]

The memo also alleged that information about the payment was not disclosed in the initial October 2016 FISA application or subsequent renewals. [25] However, the FBI's application for a FISA warrant did describe, in a footnote, the origins and political background of the dossier, [28] a fact conceded by Nunes and other Republican leaders on February 5, after the memo's release. [29]

Second, the memo alleges that the FISA application relied "extensively" on a Yahoo! News report from September 2016 by Michael Isikoff, which referenced Page's July 2016 trip to Moscow and used information from Steele. [30] It asserts that the article was "derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo News." Isikoff has stated that the information he got from Steele was actually information that the FBI already had. He also described Steele as serious and credible. [30]

Third, the memo accuses Steele of being biased against the candidacy of Donald Trump, stating he was "desperate" and "passionate" that Trump would lose. It goes on to say Bruce Ohr knew about this bias and that it was not reflected in the FISA applications. [25] [31] Ohr however did not work on counter intelligence matters and had no role in obtaining the FISA warrants on Page. [32]

The memo's fourth point quotes Bill Priestap saying that the corroboration of the Steele dossier was in its "infancy" in October 2016 during the FISA application. The memo further alleges that Andrew McCabe testified that "no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) without the Steele dossier information." [33] Other members of the House Intelligence Committee and sources close to the matter have stated that the Nunes memo "misquoted" and "mischaracterized" McCabe's testimony, which was given in private and has not been made public. [34] [35]

The memo also confirms that the spark for the FBI investigation into potential collusion between Trump's campaign and the Russians was not the Steele dossier, but rather the comments made by Trump adviser George Papadopoulos, who told an Australian diplomat in May 2016 that the Russians possessed "dirt" on Hillary Clinton in the form of hacked emails. [36] That confirmation contradicts earlier claims by some that the investigation had been triggered by the Steele dossier. [37] [38] The memo notes that Papadopoulos is mentioned in the Page FISA application, and says "there is no evidence of any cooperation or conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos." It also says the FBI's Russia investigation was opened nearly three months before the FISA surveillance application [25] in late July 2016 by Peter Strzok, who is accused of having "a clear bias against Trump and in favor of Clinton." [25] [33]

The memo also shows that the FISA warrant on Page was renewed three times. In each instance, the FBI had to show the signing judge that the warrant had merit. [39] [40] [41] [42] News accounts in 2017 indicated that because of the nature of his ties to Russia, Page had been under FBI scrutiny and had already been the subject of a FISA warrant in 2014, at least two years before the Trump campaign. [43] [44]

Finally, the memo asserts that former FBI Director James Comey testified to Congress that the Steele dossier was "salacious and unverified." However, Comey's prepared remarks show that he was referring specifically to "some personally sensitive aspects" of the dossier, not the entire dossier. [45]

In his December 9 report, Inspector General Michael Horowitz found all items asserted in the Nunes Memo were true. [46]

Background

The memo was produced by a small group of House Republicans and staff, led by Devin Nunes, as part of an investigation into how the FBI used the Steele dossier. [47] Democratic committee members were not informed about the investigation into the FBI or the preparation of the memo, a possible violation of committee rules. [48] Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said that Nunes had not read all of the relevant source material, although Nunes had argued for months that the FBI and DOJ had taken part in a conspiracy. [49]

Nunes had previously recused himself from the committee's investigation into Russia's interference in U.S. elections [49] due to a House ethics investigation into Nunes' coordination with the Trump administration. The House Ethics Committee stated that "Nunes may have made unauthorized disclosures of classified information, in violation of House Rules, law, regulations, or other standards of conduct" (the ethics investigation ended when the committee was unable to obtain the relevant classified information). [50] [51] However, after offering to step aside from the investigation into Russian interference, Nunes began his own "parallel" investigation, whose purpose appeared to be to undermine the original ongoing investigation. [52]

Since January 18 a growing number of Republicans began calling for the release of the memo. [53] [54]

Adam Schiff released a statement and a letter to Nunes on January 31, 2018, stating that Nunes had "made material changes to the memo he sent to White House – changes not approved by the Committee" and that the White House was "reviewing a document the Committee has not approved for release." [55] In response Peter King, who also sits on the Intelligence Committee, stated, "My understanding is this was agreed on beforehand among Republicans. There's one small part in the memo which in no way affects the substance in the memo." He said it involved removing only "three or four words" and came at the request of the FBI. [56]

Social media influence

A social media campaign under the hashtag "#ReleaseTheMemo" emerged on January 19, 2018, [57] to publicly release the memo despite some of its classified contents.

According to the Hamilton 68 project run by the bipartisan Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD) which tracks Russian propaganda efforts on Twitter, the hashtag was promoted by Russian Twitter bot accounts, with a 230,000 percent spike in the promotion of the hashtag by these accounts. [16] [15] [17] Clint Watts, one of the founding researchers of ASD, said the social media campaign started trending after Julian Assange advocated for the memo's release, which was then repeated by Russian influence networks. [58] Twitter stated that a "preliminary analysis of available geographical data for tweets with the hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo ... has not identified any significant activity connected to Russia with respect to tweets posting original content to this hashtag." [59] [60]

Historical background

Carter Page originally came to the attention of the FBI counterintelligence unit in 2013, prior to his becoming a Trump campaign adviser, when the unit learned that Russian spies were trying to use Page as a source of information and to recruit him as an agent; this resulted in Page being interviewed by the FBI in June 2013. [61] [62] [63] He was under secret intelligence surveillance beginning in 2014. [64] Page claimed that the information he provided to the Russians was innocuous. [62] Page was the subject of at least one FISA warrant, going back to 2014, when he was alleged to have been colluding with the Russian government or knowingly working as an agent on its behalf. [65] [66] In March 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump listed the little-known Page as one of his foreign policy advisers.

In a May 2016 meeting in London, Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos told the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Alexander Downer, that the Russians possessed "dirt" on Hillary Clinton in the form of hacked emails. [36] Two months later, Australian officials passed this information to American officials. This began the inquiry into Trump's relationship to Russia. [67]

In July 2016, Page traveled to Moscow for five days, [68] where he spoke at two meetings on July 7 & 8. [69] [70] Page had received permission from the Trump campaign to make the trip. [71] On July 8, Page emailed Trump campaign officials about his presentation at the New Economic School in Moscow and described meeting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. He said Dvorkovich "expressed strong support for Mr. Trump and a desire to work together toward devising better solutions in response to the vast range of current international problems." [72] Page was later forced, under oath, to reveal he had met Dvorkovich during the visit. [73]

The Steele dossier alleges that in July, Carter Page secretly met Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin in Moscow, together with a "senior Kremlin Internal Affairs official, DIVYEKIN"; that Sechin offered Trump a 19% stake in Rosneft (worth about $11 billion) in exchange for lifting the sanctions against Russia after his election, [74] [75] and that Page confirmed, on Trump's "full authority", that he intended to lift the sanctions. [76] [77] [78]

In September, after reports surfaced about Page's July trip to Russia, the Trump campaign said Page was not part of the campaign and never had been. [79] Page then said he was taking a leave of absence.

A month later, in October 2016, and after Page left the campaign, the FBI sought a FISA warrant to investigate his connections to Russia. [80] The warrant was granted by a FISA court judge and has since been renewed thrice, with each 90-day extension requiring new evidence "pertinent to intelligence-related collection" in order to back up the original application and to show that the warrant continues to be productive. [81] [20] [10]

Shortly after the release of the memo, Time magazine reported that in 2013, Carter Page bragged about being an "informal adviser to the Kremlin" in a letter to the editor. Page was asked about this admission on February 6, 2017, on ABC's Good Morning America program, and had trouble explaining how he reconciled his dual roles as Trump adviser and Kremlin adviser. [82] Page also claimed that he, despite being named foreign policy adviser, had never actually met Trump, contradicting his earlier statements in which he said he had been in a "number of meetings" with Trump and had "learned a tremendous amount from him". [83]

Purpose

Republicans posited that politically motivated FBI employees attempted to undermine the Trump presidency, citing the Steele dossier, which they say was an essential part of the evidence used for obtaining a FISA warrant to wiretap Page. [84] [9] According to this argument, the FBI did not disclose to the FISA court that their request for a warrant depended on evidence in the Steele dossier, a document funded by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee; according to this line of argument, Rod Rosenstein, Trump's Deputy Attorney General, knew of the funding from Democrats, and his approval of an application that failed to disclose that fact potentially implies that Rosenstein harbors some form of anti-Trump bias. [10] [11]

Fusion GPS, the firm behind the document, started its research into Trump with funding from the Paul Singer's conservative news outlet The Washington Free Beacon as part of the Never Trump movement. However, the news outlet stopped funding this research during May 2016 when Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee on May 3, 2016. [85] Attorney Marc Elias then hired Fusion GPS on behalf of his clients, the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, to continue this research and compile what would become the Steele dossier. [86]

Responses

U.S. intelligence community

As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy.

The FBI's statement on the Nunes memo,CNBC [87]

Shortly after becoming a trending topic, the memo drew polarizing reactions from government officials and the media, and generally along party lines for lawmakers. [88] [89] The Justice Department (DOJ) released a letter to Congress calling a release of the memo without review "reckless" because it could expose intelligence sources and methods. [90] FBI Director Christopher Wray was allowed to read the memo and did so on January 28. On January 29, the majority of the House Intelligence Committee disregarded the DOJ's warnings and voted to approve the memo's release. [91] In response, Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee drafted a ten-page rebuttal memo on January 24. Both memos were released to the full House. [92] The Republicans voted against making public the competing memo Democrats had crafted, and rejected a proposal to give the Justice Department and FBI more time to vet the document. The President then had up to five days to review it before it could be officially released. [93]

Republicans sought a committee vote that would request the release through the President, which would keep the memo confined to committee members until the President responded. [94] The memo could be made public by a vote in the House of Representatives if the President did not act or denied the request, but no vote was scheduled for the full House. [95]

Nunes and the House Intelligence Committee denied access to the memo by the Senate Intelligence Committee and the FBI, which expressed a desire to investigate any alleged wrongdoing. [94] The Department of Justice sent a letter to Nunes and called the release of the memo "extraordinarily reckless." [1] Nunes' panel refused to allow the FBI and the Justice Department to view the memo despite their requests. [96]

Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, issued a statement saying it was "[r]ife with factual inaccuracies" and was "meant only to give Republican House members a distorted view of the FBI." [97] Schiff also said the memo omits key information on evidence other than Steele's dossier, used in the application for the FISA warrant. [98]

On July 21, 2018, the Justice Department released a heavily redacted version of the October 2016 FISA warrant application for Carter Page, which stated in part "The FBI believes that Page has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government" and "the FBI believes that the Russian government's efforts are being coordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals associated with Candidate #1's campaign." [99]

On December 9, 2019, Michael E. Horowitz, the Inspector General, released his report stating that the FBI found 17 “basic and fundamental” errors and omissions in its applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court), but did not find political bias during the investigation of Trump and Russia, nor did he find evidence that the FBI attempted to place people inside the Trump campaign or report on the Trump campaign. [100] [101] [102] [103] [104] However, in a Senate hearing, Horowitz stated he could not rule out political bias as a possible motivation. [105] According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the Inspector General's report "confirmed" the "allegations of abuse by Nunes." [106]

Trump administration

On January 24, 2018, Trump expressed support for releasing the Nunes memo. He reportedly told close advisers that he believed the memo would reveal the FBI's bias against him, and provide grounds for him to fire Rod Rosenstein. [90] White House Counsel Don McGahn wrote that "the memorandum reflects the judgments of its congressional authors" and that the reason for its release was "significant public interest in the memorandum." [107] After its release, Trump claimed in a tweet that the memo "totally vindicates" him. [108]

Republicans

Before the memo was released, House Speaker Paul Ryan warned his fellow Republicans against overplaying the contents of the memo and tying it to the Mueller investigation. [109] After the memo was released, Ryan said, "The matter of concern outlined in this memo is a specific, legitimate one. Our FISA system is critical to keeping America safe from real and evolving threats. It is a unique system with broad discretion and a real impact on Americans' civil liberties." [110] Ryan also supported the release of the Democrats' counter-memo. [111]

Representative Trey Gowdy said the FISA application cited other material besides the dossier, but in his opinion the warrant would not have been authorized without the dossier.

Democrats

Democrats' rebuttal memo Correcting the Record - The Russia Investigations.pdf
Democrats' rebuttal memo

Democratic leaders in Congress House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called upon House Speaker Paul Ryan to remove Nunes from the House Intelligence Committee, accusing him of abusing his position as committee chairman and of working in coordination with the White House that the committee is supposed to be investigating. [112] Pelosi referred to the document as a "bogus" memo which was part of a Republican cover-up campaign; she also said Nunes had disgraced the House committee. Schumer said that the memo aimed to spread "conspiracy theories" and attacked federal law enforcement in order to protect Trump from investigation. [112] Democratic House Whip Steny Hoyer also called for Nunes to be removed, saying Nunes' behavior had undermined the American people's trust in his chairmanship of the committee. [113]

Jerry Nadler of New York, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, issued a six-page analysis rebutting the memo's legal basis and accusing Republican House members of being part of "an organized effort to obstruct" Mueller's investigation. Nadler, who reviewed the classified material used to obtain the FISA warrant, called the memo "deliberately misleading and deeply wrong on the law." He argued the FISA Court had probable cause to believe Page was acting as "an agent of a foreign power." [114] [115]

Adam Schiff has stated that the "Nunes memo is designed to ... ["put the government on trial"] by furthering a conspiracy theory that a cabal of senior officials within the FBI and the Justice Department were so tainted by bias against President Donald Trump that they irredeemably poisoned the investigation." [116]

Rebuttal memo

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee drafted a classified ten-page rebuttal memo on January 24. [117] [118] However, when the committee voted along partisan lines to release the Nunes memo, it also voted not to release the Democratic memo. [91] On February 5 the committee voted unanimously to release the Democrat's minority memo, subject to Trump's approval. [21] On February 9, Trump declined to release the rebuttal memo, with the White House suggesting sensitive sections be removed before the memo is made public. [22] [23] McGahn stated this was because of its "numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages." [119] After redactions in consultation with the FBI, the Democratic memo, titled Correcting the Record -- The Russia Investigation, was released on February 24. [120] [121] This rebuttal memo has also been referred to as the Schiff memo after Adam Schiff. [121]

Criticism

Revelations about the Nunes memo and its surrounding controversy, including speculation about the potential firing of Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, gave rise to comparisons to the Saturday night massacre, alluding to the firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox by President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. [122] [123] [124] [125]

Glenn Greenwald called the Republican-led campaign to release the memo "a bizarre spectacle" since the Republicans were "holding a document that only they can release, while pretending to be advocating for its release." [95]

In response to the release of Nunes's document, former FBI director James Comey wrote, "That's it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what?" [126]

In an interview on Meet the Press , former CIA director John O. Brennan said that Nunes had presented only "one side, in a very selective, cherry-picked memo." He said that for Nunes and the Republicans to deny the Democratic minority the ability to release their own memo "is just appalling, and it clearly underscores just how partisan Mr. Nunes has been." Brennan accused Nunes of an abuse of power in the use of his position on the House Intelligence Committee. "I don't say that lightly," he added. [127]

Three former CIA analysts (Jeff Asher, Nada Bakos and Cindy Otis) wrote that the "politically motivated, recklessly drafted" Nunes memo "does not support its main thesis" alleging abuse by the FBI and Department of Justice regarding their investigation of Carter Page as it "doesn't offer any evidence of the potential abuse and, in fact, the memo undermines itself". [128]

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has accused the authors of the memo of "using selective declassification as a tactic—they use declassified information to tell their side, and then the rebuttal is classified." Jane Mayer stated that this leaves Christopher Steele's defenders no possibility "to respond without breaching national-security secrets". [129]

Paul Rosenzweig, former Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and former Whitewater investigator, has analyzed the Nunes memo and explained several reasons for why he believes "it makes no sense", is "not a serious effort at oversight", and "fails to make its case": the timing of the FISA warrant shows that any findings would first have come to light after the election and thus could not have affected it; Carter Page was no longer a member of the Trump campaign at the time of the application; it ignores that Page was under FISA surveillance as early as 2013 because of his proven Russian connections; the attempt to tie the October FISA application to Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein is flawed because Rosenstein was a U.S. attorney for the district of Maryland at the time and had nothing to do with that application; the memo "uses language that is intended to create a misimpression" by implying that the Steele dossier was central to the FISA application, when it was only a part of it; and that the memo "tries to bury" its "admission deep in the document", in the final paragraph, that the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections was not triggered by the Steele dossier but by information from Trump advisor Papadopoulos. [130]

Release of Carter Page FISA warrant applications

Carter Page FISA warrant applications Optimized.pdf
Carter Page FISA warrant applications

On July 21, 2018, the Justice Department released heavily redacted versions of four FISA warrant applications for Carter Page which showed that key assertions made in the Nunes memo were false or misleading, corroborating the rebuttal made by Democrats. [131] The Nunes memo:

The day after the applications were released, Trump asserted that they confirmed the Justice Department and FBI had misled the FISA court and as a result his campaign had been illegally spied on to benefit the Clinton campaign. Trump also quoted notable writer Andrew McCarthy, who had called into question the integrity of the FISA court itself. [133] [134]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devin Nunes</span> American politician (born 1973)

Devin Gerald Nunes is an American businessman and politician who is chief executive officer of the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). Before resigning from the House of Representatives and joining TMTG, Nunes was first the U.S. representative for California's 21st congressional district from 2003 to 2013, and then California's 22nd congressional district from 2013 to 2022.

Anne C. Conway is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. She is a former judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Spygate is a disproven conspiracy theory peddled by 45th U.S. president Donald Trump and his political base on many occasions throughout his presidential term. It primarily centered around the idea that a spy was planted by the Obama administration to conduct espionage on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign for political purposes. On May 17, 2018, Trump tweeted: "Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI 'SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT.'" In that tweet, he quoted Andrew C. McCarthy, who had just appeared on Fox & Friends repeating assertions from his own May 12 article for National Review.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evgeny Buryakov</span>

Evgeny Evgenievich Buryakov is a convicted Russian spy. He was arrested on January 26, 2015, charged with, and pleading guilty to, spying on the United States for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). Buryakov was a New York-based Deputy Representative of Vnesheconombank, Russia's state-owned national development bank. Buryakov operated with non-official cover, and was thus not entitled to diplomatic immunity. Buryakov conducted his espionage with the assistance of Igor Sporyshev, trade representative of the Russian Federation to New York, and Victor Podobnyy, an attaché to the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations. In exchange for pleading guilty, Buryakov received a reduced sentence of 30 months in federal prison and fined $100,000. He was released early from prison on March 31, 2017, and deported from the United States six days later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carter Page</span> American oil industry consultant

Carter William Page is an American petroleum industry consultant and a former foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential election campaign. Page is the founder and managing partner of Global Energy Capital, a one-man investment fund and consulting firm specializing in the Russian and Central Asian oil and gas business.

Christopher David Steele is a British former intelligence officer with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1987 until his retirement in 2009. He ran the Russia desk at MI6 headquarters in London between 2006 and 2009. In 2009, he co-founded Orbis Business Intelligence, a London-based private intelligence firm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steele dossier</span> Political opposition research report regarding the 2016 US election

The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report on the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump compiled by counterintelligence specialist Christopher Steele. It was published without permission in 2017 as an unfinished 35-page compilation of "unverified, and potentially unverifiable" memos that were considered by Steele to be "raw intelligence — not established facts, but a starting point for further investigation".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trump Tower wiretapping allegations</span> 2017 US political controversy

On March 4, 2017, Donald Trump wrote a series of posts on his Twitter account that falsely accused former President Barack Obama's administration of wiretapping his "wires" at Trump Tower late in the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump called for a congressional investigation into the matter, and the Trump administration cited news reports to defend these accusations. His initial claims appeared to have been based on a Breitbart News article he had been given which repeated speculations made by conspiracy theorist Louise Mensch or on a Bret Baier interview, both of which occurred the day prior to his Tweets. By June 2020, no evidence had surfaced to support Trump's claim, which had been refuted by the Justice Department (DOJ).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Boyd (attorney)</span> American lawyer (born 1979)

Stephen Elliott Boyd is an American lawyer who served as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs from 2017 to 2021. He currently serves as Chief of Staff to Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville.

Since Donald Trump was a 2016 candidate for the office of President of the United States, multiple suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials were discovered by the FBI, a special counsel investigation, and several United States congressional committees, as part of their investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Following intelligence reports about the Russian interference, Trump and some of his campaign members, business partners, administration nominees, and family members were subjected to intense scrutiny to determine whether they had improper dealings during their contacts with Russian officials. Several people connected to the Trump campaign made false statements about those links and obstructed investigations. These investigations resulted in many criminal charges and indictments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mueller special counsel investigation</span> U.S. investigation into Russian interference in U.S. elections

The Robert Mueller special counsel investigation was an investigation into 45th U.S. president Donald Trump regarding Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and was conducted by special prosecutor Robert Mueller from May 2017 to March 2019. It was also called the Russia investigation, Mueller probe, and Mueller investigation. The investigation focused on three points:

  1. Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
  2. Trump associates and their connection to Russian officials and espionage
  3. Possible obstruction of justice by Trump and his associates
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Ohr</span> American government official

Bruce Genesoke Ohr is a former United States Department of Justice official. A former associate deputy attorney general and former director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), as of February 2018 Ohr was working in the Justice Department's Criminal Division. He is an expert on transnational organized crime and has spent most of his career overseeing gang and racketeering-related prosecutions, including Russian organized crime.

This is a timeline of major events in the first half of 2017 related to the investigations into links between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials and spies that are suspected of being inappropriate, relating to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Following the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections before and after July 2016 up until election day November 8 and the post-election transition, this article begins with Donald Trump and Mike Pence being sworn into office on January 20, 2017, and is followed by the second half of 2017. The investigations continued in the first and second halves of 2018, the first and second halves of 2019, 2020, and 2021.

This is a timeline of major events in first half of 2018 related to the investigations into links between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials and spies that are suspected of being inappropriate, relating to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It follows the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections before and after July 2016 up until election day November 8, the transition, and the first and second halves of 2017, but precedes the second half of 2018, the first and second halves of 2019, 2020, and 2021. These events are related to, but distinct from, Russian interference in the 2018 United States elections.

Reactions to the Special Counsel investigation of any Russian government efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election have been widely varied and have evolved over time. An initial period of bipartisan support and praise for the selection of former FBI director Robert Mueller to lead the Special Counsel investigation gave way to some degree of partisan division over the scope of the investigation, the composition of the investigative teams, and its findings and conclusions.

Crossfire Hurricane was the code name for the counterintelligence investigation undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from July 31, 2016, to May 17, 2017, into links between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia and "whether individuals associated with [Trump's] presidential campaign were coordinating, wittingly or unwittingly, with the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election". Trump was not personally under investigation until May 2017, when his firing of FBI director James Comey raised suspicions of obstruction of justice, which triggered the Mueller investigation.

The Russia investigation origins counter-narrative, or Russia counter-narrative, is a narrative embraced by Donald Trump, Republican Party leaders, and right-wing conservatives attacking the legitimacy and conclusions of investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, and the links between Russian intelligence and Trump associates. The counter-narrative includes conspiracy theories such as Spygate, accusations of a secretive, elite "deep state" network, and other false and debunked claims. Trump in particular has attacked not only the origins but the conclusions of the investigation, and ordered a review of the Mueller report, which was conducted by attorney general William Barr – alleging there was a "deep state plot" to undermine him. He has claimed the investigations were an "illegal hoax", and that the "real collusion" was between Hillary Clinton, Democrats, and Russia – and later, Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inspector General report on the Crossfire Hurricane investigation</span> 2019 OIG Report on Russia-Trump Election Ties

Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane Investigation is a report by the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General which was released on December 9, 2019 by Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz. The report reviewed the Crossfire Hurricane investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which looked into whether people associated with the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign coordinated with Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allegations of Barack Obama spying on Donald Trump</span> Claims that President Obama spied on incoming President Trump

As part of a large and baseless conspiracy theory, Donald Trump posited that Barack Obama had spied on him, which Trump described as "the biggest political crime in American history, by far." The series of accusations have been nicknamed Obamagate. Obama had served as President of the United States from 2009 until 2017, when Trump succeeded him; Trump served as president until 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election</span>

The Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian interference in the United States presidential election, officially titled Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence United States Senate on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election, is the official report in five volumes documenting the findings and conclusions of the United States Senate Intelligence Committee concerning the Russian attack efforts against election infrastructure, Russia's use of social media to affect the election, the U.S. government's response to Russian activities, review of the Intelligence Community Assessment, and counterintelligence threats and vulnerabilities. The redacted report is 1,313 pages long. It is divided into five volumes.

References

  1. 1 2 Jarrett, Laura (January 24, 2018). "Justice Dept.: 'Reckless' to release Nunes memo without review". CNN.
  2. Sorkin, Amy Davidson (February 2, 2018). "Why Were the Democrats So Worried About the Nunes Memo?". The New Yorker. ISSN   0028-792X . Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  3. Parker, Ashley; Helderman, Rosalind S.; Dawsey, Josh; Leonnig, Carol D. (January 27, 2018). "Trump sought release of classified Russia memo, putting him at odds with Justice Department". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 29, 2018. ... investigation into Russian meddling ... written by staff members for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and suggests that the FBI may have relied on politically motivated or questionable sources to justify its request for a secret surveillance warrant in the investigation's early phase.
  4. "Nunes Statement on Passage of FISA 702 Bill". U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. January 11, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  5. Yuhas, Alan (February 1, 2018). "Who is Devin Nunes and why is he sowing confusion in the Russia inquiry?". the Guardian. Retrieved February 2, 2018. he has strongly supported government surveillance powers since he was elected in 2002 to Congress
  6. Zengerle, Jason (April 24, 2018). "How Devin Nunes Turned the House Intelligence Committee Inside Out". The New York Times. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  7. Bresnahan, John; Dawsey, Josh (April 6, 2017). "Nunes steps aside from Russia probe". POLITICO.
  8. Schor, Elana (December 7, 2017). "Ethics Committee clears Rep. Devin Nunes". POLITICO.
  9. 1 2 3 Savage, Charlie (January 30, 2018). "The Real Aim of the Nunes Memo Is the Mueller Investigation". The New York Times .
  10. 1 2 3 Emmons, Alex; Aaronson, Trevor (February 2, 2018). "Nunes memo accidentally confirms the legitimacy of the FBI's investigation". The Intercept . Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  11. 1 2 Chang, Alvin (February 1, 2018). "The Nunes memo, explained with diagrams". Vox . Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  12. Liptak, Kevin; Collins, Kaitlan (February 1, 2018). "Trump sees Nunes memo as a way to discredit the Russia investigation". KITV. Archived from the original on February 2, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  13. Liptak, Kevin; Collins, Kaitlan; Murray, Sara; Merica, Dan (February 2, 2018). "Trump moves toward releasing memo he hopes will undermine Russia probe". CNN. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  14. Greenwood, Max (February 1, 2018). "Trump telling people Nunes memo will discredit Mueller probe: report". The Hill. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  15. 1 2 "Russia-linked Twitter accounts are working overtime to help Devin Nunes and WikiLeaks". Business Insider. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  16. 1 2 Ryan Sit (January 24, 2018). "Russian Bots Might Be Behind Controversial #ReleaseTheMemo Campaign, Democrats Say". Newsweek . Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  17. 1 2 "Right-wing demand to #ReleaseTheMemo endorsed by Russian bots, trolls". NBC News. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  18. "How Twitter Bots and Trump Fans Made #ReleaseTheMemo Go Viral". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  19. 1 2 Leonnig, Carol; Dawsey, Josh (February 1, 2018). "Trump to approve release of GOP memo Friday over objections from law enforcement, intelligence community". The Washington Post . Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  20. 1 2 Lucas, Ryan; Neuman, Scott (January 31, 2018). "FBI Warns Of 'Grave Concerns' About 'Accuracy' Of GOP Snooping Memo". NPR . Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  21. 1 2 Raju, Manu; Herb, Jeremy (February 6, 2018). "House Intelligence Committee unanimously votes to release Democratic memo". CNN. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  22. 1 2 Shear, Michael D.; Fandos, Nicholas (February 9, 2018). "Trump Blocks Release of Memo Rebutting Republican Claims". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 11, 2018.
  23. 1 2 "Trump Will Not Immediately Release Democratic Memo, Suggests Revisions". NPR.org. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
  24. Jeremy Herb (February 24, 2018). "Democratic intelligence memo released with redactions". CNN.com. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 Morrow, Adrian (February 2, 2018). "6 takeaways from the newly released Trump-Russia memo". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  26. Hosenball, Mark (November 1, 2017). "Ex-British spy paid $168,000 for Trump dossier, U.S. firm discloses". Reuters . Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  27. Johnson, Ted (September 10, 2018). "Omarosa Reveals New Recording of Trump Blaming Hillary Clinton for Collusion". Variety . Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  28. Nakashima, Ellen (February 2, 2018). "Justice Dept. told court of source's political influence in request to wiretap ex-Trump campaign aide, officials say". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  29. Cheney, Kyle (February 5, 2018). "Republicans concede key FBI 'footnote' in Carter Page warrant". Politico.
  30. 1 2 "Yahoo News' Michael Isikoff describes crucial meeting cited in Nunes memo". February 2, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  31. de Haldevang, Max (February 2, 2018). "Here's what the GOP memo claims about FBI wrongdoing". Quartz. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  32. Zapotosky, Matt; Reinhard, Beth (February 2, 2018). "Why the Nunes memo takes aim at a Justice Dept. official specializing in gangs and drugs". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  33. 1 2 Day, Chad (February 2, 2018). "What the GOP Memo Says (And Doesn't Say)". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  34. "Rep. Swalwell: Nunes Memo Misquotes McCabe's Statement About Steele Dossier/FISA Warrant". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  35. Correll, Diana Stancy (February 2, 2018). "Doubt cast upon Nunes memo's bombshell claim about Andrew McCabe's testimony on Trump dossier". Washington Examiner. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  36. 1 2 Tumulty, Karen; Helderman, Rosalind S. (February 2, 2018). "Sentence on Papadopoulos in GOP memo may undercut efforts to discredit Russia probe". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
  37. Cassidy, John (February 2, 2018). "The Nunes Memo Undermines the Right's Trump-Russia Conspiracy Theory". The New Yorker.
  38. Sheth, Sonam (December 30, 2017). "We now know the tipping point that prompted the FBI to launch its Trump-Russia investigation". Business Insider. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  39. Palma, Bethania (February 2, 2018). "Nunes Memo Drops and Flops". Snopes. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  40. Shipler, David (February 5, 2018). "The Nunes Memo Shows Real Problems With the FBI, but Not the Ones the GOP Thinks". The Nation. Archived from the original on January 14, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2018.{{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  41. "How the Nunes Memo Harms Intelligence Oversight". The Atlantic. February 6, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  42. Megerian, Chris (February 5, 2018). "You thought the memo drama was over? It's just heating up". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  43. Phillips, Ariella (August 3, 2017). "Former Trump adviser Carter Page under FISA warrant since 2014: Report". The Washington Examiner . Washington, D.C.
  44. Perez, Evan; Brown, Pamela; Prokupecz, Shimon (August 4, 2017). "One year into the FBI's Russia investigation, Mueller is on the Trump money trail". CNN.com. Atlanta, GA.
  45. "READ: James Comey's prepared testimony". CNN. June 8, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  46. "House Republicans quietly investigate perceived corruption at DOJ, FBI". Politico. December 20, 2017.
  47. Herb, Jeremy (February 1, 2018). "Schiff accuses Nunes of altering memo before sending to White House". Fox 10. Archived from the original on February 3, 2018. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  48. 1 2 Ryan Sit (January 30, 2018). "Nunes "cherry-picked" details for the secret memo without even reading the source material: Top Democrat". Newsweek. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  49. Demirjian, Karoun (April 6, 2017). "House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes recuses himself from Russia probe". Washington Post.
  50. "Report: Ethics investigation into Nunes ended because panel couldn't gain access to classified info". The Week. January 29, 2018.
  51. Natasha Bertrand (October 10, 2017). "Devin Nunes appears to be running a 'parallel' Russia probe without Democrats' consent". Business Insider.
  52. Schwartz, Sam. "What Is the Nunes Memo? Controversial Intelligence Document About Trump Campaign Surveillance Spawns #Releasethemem". No. January 29, 2018.
  53. "GOP reps demand release of 'shocking' surveillance memo". The Hill. January 19, 2018.
  54. Demirjian, Karoun (January 31, 2018). "Schiff accuses Nunes of altering memo before sharing it with Trump for release". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  55. Greenwood, Max (January 2, 2018). "Pete King: Nunes changed 'one small part' of memo, did not affect its substance". The Hill. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  56. "Trending Topics del viernes 19 de enero en Worldwide". www.trendinalia.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  57. Elder, Miriam; Warzel, Charlie (February 28, 2018). "Stop Blaming Russian Bots For Everything". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved April 24, 2018. 'When Julian Assange says something, Russian influence networks always repeat it,' Watts said. 'So he weighed in on the Nunes memo; that's what made it trend.'
  58. Dwoskin, Elizabeth; Timberg, Craig (January 31, 2018). "Lawmakers press social media companies — again — on the forces behind the #ReleaseTheMemo campaign". The Washington Post . Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  59. Gadde, Vijaya (January 26, 2018). "Letter to Adam Schiff and Dianne Feinstein" (PDF). Twitter . Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  60. Goldman, Adam (April 4, 2017). "Russian Spies Tried to Recruit Carter Page Before He Advised Trump". New York Times.
  61. 1 2 Nakashima, Ellen; Barrett, Devlin; Entous, Adam (April 11, 2017). "FBI obtained FISA warrant to monitor Trump adviser Carter Page". The Washington Post.
  62. McCarthy, Tom (February 3, 2018). "Who is Carter Page, the Trump ex-adviser at the center of the memo furore?". The Guardian . Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  63. Evan Perez; Pamela Brown; Shimon Prokupecz (August 3, 2017). "One year into the FBI's Russia investigation, Mueller is on the Trump money trail". CNN. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
  64. Phillips, Ariella (August 3, 2017). "Former Trump adviser Carter Page under FISA warrant since 2014: Report". Washington Examiner. Washington, DC.
  65. Harding, Luke (February 3, 2018). "Why Carter Page Was Worth Watching". Politico . Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  66. LaFraniere, Sharon; Mazzetti, Mark; Apuzzo, Matt (December 30, 2017). "How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt". The New York Times . Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  67. Prokop, Andrew (February 2, 2018). "Carter Page, the star of the Nunes memo, explained". Vox. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  68. Katehon Think Tank (July 7, 2016), The Lecture of Trump's Advisor Carter Page in Moscow , retrieved May 29, 2017
  69. "Trump foreign policy adviser has advice for Russian grads". Associated Press. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
  70. "Trump campaign gave Page permission for Moscow trip". USA TODAY. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
  71. Bump, Philip (November 7, 2017). "Russian officials and allies repeatedly signaled support for Trump to his campaign team". The Washington Post . Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  72. "In New Testimony, Carter Page Forced To Reveal Meetings With Russian Officials". Huffington Post. November 11, 2017.
  73. Bertrand, Natasha (November 6, 2017). "Carter Page's testimony is filled with bombshells - and supports key portions of the Steele dossier". Business Insider . Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  74. Weindling, Jacob (January 11, 2017). "The 31 Most Explosive Allegations against Trump from the Leaked Intelligence Document". Paste . Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  75. Withnall, Adam; Sengupta, Kim (January 12, 2017). "The 10 key Donald Trump allegations from the classified Russia memos". The Independent . Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  76. Bertrand, Natasha (January 27, 2017). "Memos: CEO of Russia's state oil company offered Trump adviser, allies a cut of huge deal if sanctions were lifted". Business Insider . Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  77. Tracy, Abigail (November 7, 2017). "Is Carter Page Digging the Trump Administration's Grave? Three things the former campaign adviser revealed to Congress that should scare the White House". Vanity Fair . Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  78. Neidig, Harper (September 24, 2016). "Trump camp backs away from adviser suspected of Kremlin ties" . Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  79. Prokop, Andrew (February 2, 2018). "Carter Page, the star of the Nunes memo, explained". Vox . Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  80. Fandos, Nicholas (February 1, 2018). "House Republicans Vote to Release Secret Memo on Russia Inquiry". New York Times.
  81. Vazquez, Maegan (February 6, 2018). "Page struggles to explain how he could advise both Kremlin and Trump team". CNN. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  82. Nelson, Louis; Griffiths, Brent D. (February 5, 2018). "Carter Page: I've never communicated with Trump". Politico. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  83. Kiely, Eugene (February 27, 2018). "Trump's Spin on Democratic Memo". FactCheck.org. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  84. Johnson, Jenna (May 4, 2016). "The night Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  85. Entous, Adam; Barrett, Devlin; Helderman, Rosalind S. (October 25, 2017). "Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier". The Washington Post . p. A1. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
  86. Javers, Eamon; Breuninger, Kevin (January 31, 2018). "FBI says it has 'grave concerns' about accuracy of hotly debated FISA memo". CNBC. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  87. "Justice Dept warned White House about releasing memo – Washington Post". Reuters. January 30, 2018.
  88. "Conservatives Brought Russia Probe Demand to Shutdown Talks". Bloomberg.com. January 19, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  89. 1 2 Parker, Ashley; Helderman, Rosalind S.; Dawsey, Josh; Leonnig, Carol D. (January 27, 2018). "Trump sought release of classified Russia memo, putting him at odds with Justice Department". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  90. 1 2 Demirjian, Karoun; Barrett, Devlin (January 29, 2018). "Republicans vote to release memo alleging FBI missteps while surveilling Trump campaign operative". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  91. Nerb, Jeremy; Raju, Manu (January 30, 2018). "Democrats' rebuttal memo criticizes Nunes as part of response". CNN.
  92. Kyle Cheney (January 29, 2018). "House panel votes to release secret memo". Politico.
  93. 1 2 Jeremy Herb; Manu Raju. "Senate panel denied access to Nunes FISA memo". CNN. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  94. 1 2 Liautaud, Alexa (January 25, 2018). "These two deep-state conspiracy theories are driving Republicans nuts today". Vice News. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  95. Beavers, Olivia (January 26, 2018). "The classified Intel memo: What you need to know". The Hill. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  96. "Republicans call for release of memo on alleged surveillance abuses". CBS News. January 19, 2018.
  97. Savage, Charlie (February 1, 2018). "How to Get a Wiretap to Spy on Americans, and Why That Matters Now". New York Times.
  98. Savage, Charlie (July 21, 2018). "Justice Dept. Releases Secret Carter Page Surveillance Documents at Center of Partisan Clash". The New York Times. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  99. Lynch, Sarah N.; Sullivan, Andy; Hosenball, Mark (December 9, 2019). "Mistakes, but no political bias in FBI probe of Trump campaign: watchdog". Reuters . Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  100. "Read the full text: Justice Department watchdog report into origins of Russia probe". NBC News . December 9, 2019.
  101. "IG report: Bias didn't taint FBI leaders running Trump-Russia probe, but inspector general finds other problems - The Washington Post". The Washington Post .
  102. "Justice Department watchdog finds Trump-Russia probe was not tainted by political bias". CNBC . December 9, 2019.
  103. https://www.justice.gov/storage/120919-examination.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  104. "Watchdog tells Senate of deep concerns over FBI errors in Russia probe". NBC News . December 11, 2019.
  105. "The press versus the president".
  106. Blake, Aaron (February 2, 2018). "Analysis: The full Nunes memo, annotated". Washington Post.
  107. Cochrane, Emily (February 3, 2018). "Trump Says Republican Memo 'Totally Vindicates' Him". The New York Times . Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  108. Williams, Katie Bo; Wong, Scott (January 30, 2018). "Ryan urges lawmakers: Don't overplay memo". The Hill. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  109. Weaver, Al (February 2, 2018). "Paul Ryan: Nunes memo lays out a 'specific, legitimate' worry about surveillance". Washington Examiner. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  110. Manchester, Julia (February 2, 2018). "Ryan supports release of Democrats' countermemo". The Hill. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  111. 1 2 Clark, Dartunorro (February 1, 2018). "Schumer, Pelosi call for Nunes to be removed as House intelligence chair". NBC News. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  112. Manchester, Julia (February 2, 2018). "Hoyer calls on Ryan to remove Nunes after release of memo". The Hill. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  113. Memoli, Mike (February 3, 2018). "Democratic rebuttal calls Nunes memo 'deliberately misleading'". CBS News . Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  114. Stracqualursi, Veronica (February 4, 2018). "Judiciary Democrat's rebuttal to Nunes memo accuses House GOP of obstructing Russia probe". CNN . Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  115. Schiff, Adam (February 1, 2018). "The Nunes memo crosses a dangerous line". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  116. Demirjian, Karoun (January 24, 2018). "House Democrats plan memo to counter GOP's, as calls to declassify files grow". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  117. Eli Lake (January 25, 2018). "Russian Bots Are Right: #Releasethememo". Bloomberg.com . Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  118. Guardia, Arnau Busquets (February 10, 2018). "Trump blocks release of Democratic Russia memo". Politico. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  119. House, Billy (February 24, 2018). "Democrats' Memo Released Countering GOP Account of Russia Probe". Bloomberg News. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  120. 1 2 Prokop, Andrew (February 24, 2018). "Read: Democrats' response to the Nunes memo was just released". Vox. Retrieved February 24, 2018. Here's the full text of the Schiff memo .. Democrats on the committee led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) accused the memo of being misleading, and put together their own memo in response.
  121. Eisen, Norman; Fredickson, Caroline; Bookbinder, Noah (January 31, 2018). "Trump's Saturday Night Massacre Is Happening Right Before Our Eyes". Politico . Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  122. Shalev, Chemi (February 2, 2018). "When Trump Fires Mueller, Watergate Could Seem Like Child's Play". Haaretz . Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  123. Smith, David (February 2, 2018). "Trump's release of Nunes memo is Nixonian – but today's GOP won't resist". The Guardian . Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  124. Clark, Dartunorro (February 2, 2018). "Democrats, some GOP lawmakers criticize release of Nunes memo". NBC News . Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  125. Papenfuss, Mary (February 2, 2018). "An Angry James Comey On The GOP Memo: 'That's It?'". HuffPost.
  126. Shane Harris, Nunes 'abused' his power on intelligence committee, former CIA director says, Washington Post (February 4, 2018).
  127. Asher, Jeff; Bakos, Nada; Otis, Cindy (February 7, 2018). "Former CIA analysts: We can't trust Devin Nunes". CNN . Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  128. Mayer, Jane (March 12, 2018). "Christopher Steele, the Man Behind the Trump Dossier". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  129. Rosenzweig, Paul (February 2, 2018). "Even If You Take the Nunes Memo Seriously, It Makes No Sense". Politico . Archived from the original on January 5, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  130. 1 2 3 4 Savage, Charlie (July 23, 2018). "How a Trump Decision Revealed a G.O.P. Memo's Shaky Foundation". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  131. Kris, David (July 21, 2018). "What to Make of the Carter Page FISA Applications". Lawfare. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  132. "Judges Who Approved Carter Page FISA Warrants Were All Nominated by GOP Presidents". lawandcrime.com. July 22, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  133. Rogers, Katie; Cochrane, Emily (July 22, 2018). "Without Evidence, Trump Claims Vindication From Release of Carter Page Documents". The New York Times. Retrieved July 26, 2018.