Memo Released!

The infamous Kraken Nunes memo has been released. You can read the whole thing here. It's short and to the point, and in readable English, not governmentese.

I believe it bears out my prediction; not a bombshell, not a dud, but something in between. It confirms many of our suspicions, but breaks little new ground.

Important points:

1) The FISA warrant on Carter Page was obtained by using the "Steele Dossier", in major part.

2) Former FBI Deputy Dawg Andy McCabe testified to Congress that the FISA warrant could not have been obtained without the dossier, which was never substantiated in major part (it was public knowledge that Carter Page had traveled to Russia, so that doesn't count).

3) The FISA court judges were never told that the "Steele Dossier" was the result of the Clinton campaign and the DNC funding, and Glenn Simpson testified to Congress that Fusion GPS told Steel to make the document look like the output of a government intelligence unit.

4) FISA warrants need to be renewed every 90 days to stay valid, and each needs to be certified by the FBI director and a Deputy AG. The FISA warrant was re-authorized 3 more times using the same evidence, and signed off by the FBI director, and a Deputy Attorney General. James Comey certified three times, and once by Andrew McCabe on on the FBI side, and Sally Yates, Dana Boente and Rod Rosenstein signed on the DOJ side. The court was never informed of the dossiers origin.

5) The FISA application also cited a Yahoo News report on Carter Page as corroboration of the dossier. However, the Yahoo News article was also the result of an interview with  Steele, so it was not an independent source.

6) Steele told then (now demoted) Assistant Deputy Dawg Bruce Ohr that he "was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being elected."

7) There do not seem to be any deep dark secrets about the FISA warrants revealed here as democrats and the media warned, except that the FBI and Justice Department repeatedly gamed the system to obtain and maintain the surveillance on the Trump campaign. Which seems to completely explain all the opposition from the DOJ, the FBI, the non-Fox media (except for Shep Smith) and the Democrats.

Recently rumors leaks flew about that Trump had asked Rod Rosenstein if he was on the "President's team", suggesting that Trump was asking for a loyalty oath. What they mostly fail to mention is that Rod  Rosenstein and Christopher Wray came to Trump, seeking protection from Congressional oversight. That's pretty much the definition of chutzpah.

.@MonicaCrowley: "This is the first of several memos. As bad as bad as this memo might be, my understanding is that there is worse coming down the pike." #ReleaseTheMemo pic.twitter.com/ppdjdtQaa1

— Dan Siddons (@SiddonsDan) February 1, 2018