On the afternoon of January 18th, several GOP House members gathered in a secure room, and sat down to read several memos. Normally, this would generate mild interest in the press. However, the session on the 18th has generated a black hole of silence from the propagandists in the mainstream media, and DEFCON 2 posture in the conservative press. What’s in the memos? Oh, only the results of some internal FBI & DoJ investigations as to what material was used to obtain the FISA warrants that were the basis of surveillance on the Trump campaign during the latter part of 2016. That’s all.
The GOP House members may have been stoking the DEFCON 2 level response from folks on the right. Representative Ron DeSantis of Florida, wants the memos declassified so that every American can see them. He Tweeted: “This is a matter of national significance and the American people deserve the truth.”
Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida said on Sean Hannity’s shows, both radio and TV, that what’s outlined in the memos is way worse than Watergate, and that every American needs to know how organizations are trying to overturn an election. That’s Alex Jones-level of hysteria. But, of course, that’s the way to get your mug on Hannity’s show. So, maybe it’s not THAT bad.
Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry told Fox News, “You think about, ‘is this happening in America or is this the KGB?’ That’s how alarming it is.” Hmmm. The KGB? Well, at least he didn’t go full Nazi, yet.
Texas’ own Louie Gohmert read the memos. He wants them released. In his words, ‘the truth may not set the guilty free, but it needs to come out.” So far, his is the most reasonable response.
What’s in these memos? What is causing the dead silence on the left, and the hysteria on the right?
The document apparently outlines “several problematic” issues with how FISA warrants were “packaged, and used”. That doesn’t sound good. In normal cases, if a warrant was fraudulently obtained, any prosecution that was based on evidence obtained under that warrant can be challenged under “fruit of the poisoned tree” defense. In other words, if somebody falsely represented the need to get a warrant, anything obtained under that warrant is now tainted.
Oops. This is bad. What else is there that we need to worry about?
Well, according to a senior government official who spoke with journalist Sara Carter on the condition of anonymity, “The document shows a troubling course of conduct and we need to make the document available, so the public can see it,”. “Once the public sees it, we can hold the people involved accountable in a number of ways.”
The government official said that after reading the document “some of these people should no longer be in the government.”
Problems with how FISA warrants were packaged and obtained? Officials conduct that’s bad enough to send people to jail?
Let’s see these memos! And for the record, let’s prevent organizations from using FISA warrants for their own nefarious purposes!!
Except, in a truly embarrassing coincidence, the House passed the latest FISA reauthorization just last week. The Senate passed it earlier this week.
That’s inconvenient. Or is it. Of the GOP House members who have spoken out about what was discovered in the memo—Ron DeSantis, Mark Meadows, Louie Gohmert, Matt Gaetz, Peter King, Steven King, and Scott Perry—the only members who did not vote to reauthorize FISA last week were Gohmert, Meadows, and Perry. The rest voted to reauthorize FISA.
I wonder if they want to re-think that vote. Nah, probably not. They might want to be able to use the same tactics in the future. You know, in the name of national security and all that.