Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee on Saturday released their redacted response to a Republican memo on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, as Democrats charged that the GOP omitted numerous details about the FBI's probe during the campaign for the White House.
"FBI and DOJ officials 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 memo states.
"The FBI supplied information to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that Russia might be colluding with Trump campaign associates," Democrats said in a press statement announcing the release of the memo, which had been held back earlier this month after the White House raised questions about details included in the ten page memo.
"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," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence panel.
"We can now tell you what they left out," Schiff added.
Democrats said their rebuttal "should put to rest any concerns that the American people might have as to the conduct of the FBI, the Justice Department and the FISC," as they said the evidence "failed to uncover any evidence of illegal, unethical, or unprofessional behavior by law enforcement."
Democrats not only countered that, but raised questions about the testimony of one-time Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, who was the focus of the original Republican memo, as the GOP raised questions about how surveillance had been approved of Page.
Democrats said the answer was not the information supplied by ex-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele.
Some portions of the document on those points were blacked out, or redacted.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
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