Are there two different memos on the alleged 2016 campaign surveillance and Russia collusion accusations floating around Washington? That’s what Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) claims. And two other top Democrats are demanding the removal of Devin Nunes (R-CA), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, for reportedly submitting a different version from the original.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was her usual vocal self, claiming Nunes produced a bogus memo and doctored the contents, according to NBC News:
"The decision of Chairman Nunes and House Republicans to release a bogus memo has taken the GOP’s cover-up campaign to a new, completely unacceptable extreme," Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan. "From the start, Congressman Nunes has disgraced the House Intelligence Committee," she added. "Since pledging to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation, Congressman Nunes has abused his position to launch a highly unethical and dangerous cover-up campaign for the White House."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also sent a statement to Ryan requesting Nunes’s removal. He said the intent of the memo from Nunes is to "sow conspiracy theories and attack the integrity of federal law enforcement as a means to protect President Trump."
The Republicans have said the memo “shows corruption in the FBI that is ‘worse than Watergate.’” Which, they said, is proof that Robert Mueller’s investigation was “based on a fraud.” Republicans who have read the memo said it shows “that the FBI relied on an opposition research dossier paid for by Democrats to obtain a warrant to conduct secret surveillance on an aide to Trump’s presidential campaign.”
Democrats, meanwhile, said the memo is a “grossly distorted attack on the Mueller probe,” and that it is “inaccurate and misleading.”
Schiff, while not officially asking for Nunes’s removal from the committee, claims he sent a different version of the memo to the White House. According to Schiff, the message had been edited, which Jack Langer, a spokesperson for Nunes agreed to, saying the editing only related to "grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and by the Minority themselves."
Fox News reported on Schiff’s response to what he considers an altered memo:
“The White House has therefore been reviewing a document since Monday night that the committee never approved for public release,” Schiff wrote. He continued, “While the majority’s changes do not correct the profound distortions and inaccuracies in your document, they are nonetheless substantive.”
President Donald Trump is expected to release the “bogus” memo to the public, despite the FBI’s “grave concerns.” Although, officials have agreed to redact security sensitive material suggested by the FBI. Still, the Democrats are vehemently against the release of the said memo – with good reason? – while the Republicans are taking the Trump road of being as transparent as possible.
It makes one wonder – if sensitive material is redacted, then why are the Dems so afraid? If the only “corrections” made to said memo were grammatical and requests made by the FBI and the Democrats, why the fearful accusations?
The Republicans want to release the memo to the American people and let them make their own intellectual judgment call while the Democrats want to keep us from it. It reminds me of the line from the 1992 movie A Few Good Men when Tom Cruise yells at Jack Nicholson: “I want the truth!” And Nicholson yells back: “You can’t handle the truth!”
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