Reporter Cited In GOP Russia Memo Responds

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., enters the House Intelligence Committee area on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, where former White House strategist Stephen Bannon is being interviewed.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., enters the House Intelligence Committee area on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, where former White House strategist Stephen Bannon is being interviewed. AP Photo/Susan Walsh
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., enters the House Intelligence Committee area on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, where former White House strategist Stephen Bannon is being interviewed.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., enters the House Intelligence Committee area on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, where former White House strategist Stephen Bannon is being interviewed. AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Reporter Cited In GOP Russia Memo Responds

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Michael Isikoff, an investigative reporter whose work for Yahoo News was prominently featured in Devin Nunes’ congressional memo on the Russia investigation, will join us. He’s author of the upcoming book Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump.

On Friday, the White House declassified a four-page memo alleging the FBI abused its surveillance power to spy on Carter Page, an adviser to the Donald Trump presidential campaign. Central to the memo’s argument is the salacious “dossier,” a collection of opposition research prepared by Christopher Steele, a former British spy, employed by anti-Trump Republicans and the Democratic National Committee. The memo argues the FBI used this opposition research to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil Page, without disclosing that the research was funded by Democrats.

However, the memo also says the Russia probe began with George Papadopoulos, a former Trump adviser who told foreign diplomats that Russia had dirt on Hillary Clinton. This counters the memo’s central argument that the Steele Dossier is the sole justification for the Russia probe.

The FBI released a rare public statement on the memo, saying the Bureau has “grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.” 

Over the weekend, Trump tweeted: “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.”