Lying Liars

Nunes Admits The Premise of His Memo is a Lie

Written by SK Ashby

The entire premise of the Nunes memo is that the FBI obtained a warrant to conduct surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page without disclosing to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that the bureau was tipped off by politically-motivated actors, but that's not true.

Reports surfaced over the weekend that the FBI's application for a FISA warrant noted that the "pee tape" dossier was commissioned by partisan third parties.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes himself was asked about those reports yesterday morning at which point he conceded.

“Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele's efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior and FBI officials,” the memo alleged.

But in an appearance on "Fox & Friends," Nunes was asked about reports over the weekend that the FBI application did refer to a political entity connected to the dossier. It is unclear precisely what language the application might have used.

Nunes conceded that a "footnote" to that effect was included in the application, while faulting the bureau for failing to provide more specifics.

We can infer that Nunes was aware that the FBI included a "footnote" when he wrote his memo, but that fact was not included in the memo. He deliberately left it out.

When Democrats on the Intelligence Committee say Nunes intentionally omitted facts with the goal of misleading the public, this is what they're talking about.

Getting into a leak fight with the FBI is probably not a good idea. They can push back far more competently than Nunes can.