I was surprised to wake up this morning and discover the nation still here, our democracy intact, and the Constitution still the law of the land. After all, we were promised everything short of Armageddon if Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released their 4-page Memo on the abuse of the FISA court by FBI/DOJ partisans. Sources and methods exposed. The Department of Justice and FBI reduced to rubble. Vladimir Putin weeping for joy in the Kremlin. The ghost of J. Edgar Hoover weeping into his mumu.

Even the increasingly creepy James Comey bounced between wondering “That’s it?” — as in “There’s nothing there” — and doom and gloom.

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? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs.

— James Comey (@Comey) February 2, 2018

What a crock. The nation remained intact and able to enjoy the Super Bowl.

So why the big lie from the Democrats and their media partners? We’ll get to that in a second.

What the Memo Said

You can read the memo here. (And you can read the House Intelligence Committee’s responses to the many charges against the memo here.)

But here’s a quick summary:

The FBI accepted unverified and salacious information from a foreign agent with an expressed interest in stopping Donald Trump. Information they knew was gathered and paid for at the request of Hillary Clinton and the DNC.

They used this “Steele Dossier” to gain FISA warrants in order to spy on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page not once, not twice, not three times, but four; all while knowing the dossier was not verified. Yet they vouched for the dossier’s validity. They used as evidence of its validity a Yahoo News article confirming information in the dossier — knowing full well the Yahoo News article’s source was the same foreign agent. In other words, the same allegations from the same source, just in a different font.

They never told the FISA court that the dossier was a Hillary Clinton work product. 

The key line in the Memo? “Deputy Direct McCabe testified before the Committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information.” No dossier, no surveillance.

What the Memo Shows

As noted by the Conservative Treehouse, the memo makes a point of indicating the warrants for Carter Page were under Title I, not Title VII of FISA. Title VII you’re talking about information gathered during surveillance on a foreign national. With Title I, you’re saying the American target is a spy. You are saying the target is actively working to harm the United States. The distinction is crucial.

The FBI were not targeting Page incidentally as an outcome of foreign intelligence collection; the FBI was targeting Carter Page directly. AND as such they carried full surveillance authority upon all of this activities, interactions, communications and contacts therein.

Because of this direct approach, any group, organization or entity who came in contact with U.S. Person Carter Page was then open for ancillary review and FBI investigation.  Those who engaged in contact with Carter Page became subject to surveillance and searches in the same manner as if Page was an actual foreign agent.

Here’s what we know: The Clinton-funded dossier led to the granting of the warrant and surveillance of a Trump campaign official. A warrant that allowed the surveillance of anyone who came into Page’s sphere. In other words, the Trump campaign. This warrant allowed FBI/DOJ partisans to spy on the Trump team during the height of the presidential campaign and beyond.

Further, the FBI/DOJ didn’t bother to tell Congress’ Gang of Eight intelligence oversight group they were conducting this surveillance on the Trump campaign. They waited eight months.

A question to ask before going any further: Did the FBI agents, with their bias becoming clearer with each passing text, truly believe Carter Page was a Russian spy out to hurt America? Or were his past contacts with Russia a pretext for conducting surveillance on the Trump operation?  

Seems the answer is pretty obvious.

Donald Trump said Obama had “wire-tapped” him. He was loudly mocked and ridiculed. However, Obama’s spokesman only said “neither Obama or any White House official” had ordered surveillance. That only means Obama’s signature wasn’t on the warrant.

But were his fingerprints?

Little Round Top

The memo itself is very narrow. It’s talking only about one FISA warrant (with renewals) against one guy. In the big stew, this is one potato. Reading the memo, I see why people would agree with Comey’s tweet. Or at least the first couple words. “That’s it?” Sure, the implications are criminal. But why in the world were Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff, Clapper, Brennan, Comey, the DOJ/FBI establishment brass and all their media minions throwing tremendous firepower down on one little memo? You heard it all week. You are still hearing it today. It’s apocalyptic.

Why?

We’re at the Battle of Gettysburg at Little Round Top. Remember from history class or the movie Gettysburg? Joshua Chamberlain and his 20th Maine were on Little Round Top, at the very end of the Union Army’s left flank. The Confederates were preparing an attack at that very spot. Chamberlain and his commanders knew the score. If they did not hold that small bit of ground, if they gave way there, the rest of the Union defensive line would be rolled up. The battle — and likely the war — would be lost. It was that simple. It was that life-or-death.

Chamberlain and his men flung themselves down Little Round Top at the enemy in a furious, maybe even suicidal, bayonet charge. The Confederate attack was repelled. The Union was saved.

The stakes are the same here. If this one story about how the FBI and DOJ misused the FISA court to spy on this one Trump advisor takes hold, the rest of the party line starts to collapse. (See the questions below.) The memo is only about 10% of what the House Intelligence Committee has coming, Sara Carter reported Friday night. Committee Chairman Devin Nunes revealed the memo is the first of many such memos. The State Department’s actions in regards to the Russian collusion narrative are currently under investigation. That’s just the House.

Chuck Grassley’s Senate Judiciary Committee is also set to release a report. As the Stream reported a couple weeks ago, we already know the CIA and White House were using the (false) dossier to push the narrative on Congress and the media. Musician and Clinton pal Moby and Obama official Evelyn Farkas publicly admitted it.

And then there’s the DOJ Inspector General’s report, expected within a month. While the MSM has been spending a year ranting about Trump-Russia collusion without offering proof, IG Michael Horowitz has been quietly collecting evidence of what the DOJ and FBI were up to during the 2016 election. According to The Washington Post and CBS News, some of its findings already cost Andrew McCabe his job. 

Questions Raised by the Use of the Dossier

On Saturday, Donald Trump said the Memo “totally vindicates” him in the Russia probe.

This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018

It is premature to declare total vindication. But answers to the following questions will go a long way to exposing the effort to overthrow the president.

1. What Obama agencies used the false dossier as a basis for pushing the Russian collusion claim in an effort to undermine the President?
2. Is it just chance that these agencies, from the FBI and DOJ to CIA to DOD were pushing the same dossier? The same narrative? Who in the Obama Administration gave the green light?
3. Who gave the order for CIA agents to tell Moby the dossier was “100% true” and to spread it on social media? (Does this explain why anti-Trumper and former CIA director John Brennan was leading the anti-Memo charge?)
4. Who exactly unmasked and leaked names and information to further the Russian narrative? Why did National Security Advisor Susan Rice lie about her knowledge of the unmasking? (This alone puts the story close enough to the Oval Office to give the MLK bust noogies.)
5. If a minor Trump adviser like Carter Page was considered a Russian agent worthy of surveillance for his contacts with Russia and connection to a Presidential candidate, why not Clinton campaign manager John Podesta? Podesta (along with his company) was an actual lobbying agent for Russia. Where was the surveillance against him?
6. Michael Flynn’s judge was a FISA court judge. He was recused just days after Flynn’s guilty plea and the revelations of the Strzok-Page “plans” and “insurance policy.” And now, right before the Memo was released, Flynn and Mueller ask the court to delay sentencing. Did revelations about the FISA abuse independent of the House revelations lead both to the recusal and the delay? Will fruit of the poisoned tree get everything Mueller’s done so far tossed into the trash?
7. What was the wife and writing partner of Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson doing at the White House when this dossier business was getting underway?
8. Since Hillary and DNC paid for the dossier what exact role did they play in the dissemination? After all, they owned and controlled the dossier.

These are just a few questions connected to the dossier and surveillance. The abuse of American citizen Carter Page in the pursuit of selling a political narrative is only the start.

Or maybe the middle. Just ask the video-maker jailed for the video Obama blamed for Benghazi.

Again, if the memo revelations gain traction, the rest will fall.