GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina dismissed Democrats’ criticisms of the recently released Republican memo detailing surveillance abuse within the FBI and Department of Justice, during an interview Sunday on “Face The Nation.”
“I get that Adam Schiff and others are worried about what’s not in my memo,” Gowdy said. “I wish that they were equally concerned about what’s not in the FISA application”
Gowdy, who recently announced he will forgo another term in Congress in favor of returning to the private sector, downplayed the concerns of the FBI and Democratic lawmakers: namely that the memo – compiled by House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes – might compromise intelligence methods and sources.
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NEW: @TGowdySC responds to Democrat critics of GOP memo: “I get that Adam Schiff and others are worried about what's not in my memo. I wish that they were equally concerned about what's not in the FISA application” WATCH FULL INTERVIEW THIS MORNING ON @FaceTheNation: pic.twitter.com/kn7lZd8Igq
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 4, 2018
“But it’s both the Steele dossier, and who paid for it, and whether or not it was vetted, but it’s also what was not in it. This is an application to a court. So, I get that Adam Schiff and others are worried about what’s not in my memo,” Gowdy said.
“I wish that they were equally concerned about what’s not in the FISA application, which is a lot of really important information about the source, and its sub-sources, and the fact that he was hired by the DNC and the Clinton campaign, and the fact that he was biased against President Trump. That is all information that the– that the finder of fact is entitled to.”
The FBI released a statement prior to the memo’s Friday release, which stated the agency had “grave concerns” about its contents.
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, led by ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff of California, have drafted their own memo to counter the Republican version, which they believe to be incomplete and misleading. Republicans voted Monday not to release the memo publicly but did vote to share it with the rest of the House. Speaker Paul Ryan and many of his fellow Republicans have said they support the public release of the Democratic memo once it is properly redacted to protect intelligence methods and sources.
This report, by Jack Crowe, was cross posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.