(National Sentinel) Full Disclosure: Fired FBI Director James Comey told reporters on Friday after testifying — sort of — behind closed doors in front of two House committees that any claims he, the bureau, or the Justice Department abused the FISA courts in obtaining a warrant to spy on a Trump campaign official are “nonsense.”
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-N.C., isn’t buying that, and he has vowed to get to the bottom of what he believes was a series of FISA court abuses during the Obama administration’s “Spygate” scandal to spy on campaign adviser Carter Page.
“I look forward to having an in-depth discussion with former FBI Director Comey about his assertion that challenges against the FISA warrant process – based on the Steele dossier – are ‘nonsense,’” Graham said Saturday in response to Comey’s statement.
Graham is expected to take over the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Daily Caller reported:
Republicans have accused the FBI and Justice Department of misleading FISA Court judges by relying heavily on the Steele dossier in applications for four warrants to spy on Page. They assert that the dossier was unverified when the FBI cited it extensively in its warrant applications and that the bureau failed to fully disclose that the dossier was the product of an opposition research project funded by the DNC and Clinton campaign.
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The dossier, authored by former British spy Christopher Steele, accuses the Trump campaign of conspiring with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election. Page is featured prominently in the 35-page document but vehemently denies its allegations.
I look forward to having an in-depth discussion with former FBI Director Comey about his assertion that challenges against the FISA warrant process – based on the Steele dossier – are ‘nonsense.’https://t.co/cntpzQQFE5
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 8, 2018
Republicans have also called on POTUS Donald Trump to declassify several documents and email chains that appear to indicate that some members of the FBI and DoJ had concerns about relying on the dossier — which Comey and Obama knew was ‘opposition research’ paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign — in order to obtain a FISA court warrant against Page.
Several GOP lawmakers have said they believe Comey’s FBI purposely mislead the FISA court in order to obtain the warrant, which was renewed at least three times — one of which was signed off by Comey.
As for Comey’s House testimony Friday, he was mocked by POTUS Trump on Twitter for “not recalling” details when asked by House members 245 times.
On 245 occasions, former FBI Director James Comey told House investigators he didn’t know, didn’t recall, or couldn’t remember things when asked. Opened investigations on 4 Americans (not 2) – didn’t know who signed off and didn’t know Christopher Steele. All lies!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2018
Leakin’ James Comey must have set a record for who lied the most to Congress in one day. His Friday testimony was so untruthful! This whole deal is a Rigged Fraud headed up by dishonest people who would do anything so that I could not become President. They are now exposed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2018
Ordinarily, we’d be skeptical about this. But clearly, Democrats destroyed any goodwill they had with him because of the way they attempted to destroy Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings earlier this fall, as evidenced by his expressed outrage during those hearings and a return to his conservative bona fides in the weeks since.
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