‘Political and legal BUST’: Donald Trump attacks US Democrats as they release rebuttal memo into FBI’s Russia probe
The memo’s release the latest development in an extraordinary back and forth between Republicans and Democrats about the credibility of the multiple inquiries into links between the Trump campaign and Russia
The Democratic document – which President Donald Trump dubbed a “political and legal BUST” – is the latest salvo in a partisan fight over the Russia investigation, which was launched in 2016 and has come under repeated fire from Trump and other Republicans.
The Republican memo, which was released earlier this month over the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice’s objections, said that unsubstantiated Democrat-funded research was used to obtain a warrant to surveil Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide.
“FBI and DOJ officials did not ‘abuse’ the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process, omit material information, or subvert this vital tool to spy on the Trump campaign,” the Democrats’ text said, referring to the process under which secret surveillance warrants are obtained.
“In fact, DOJ and the FBI would have been remiss in their duty to protect the country had they not sought a FISA warrant and repeated renewals to conduct temporary surveillance of Carter Page, someone the FBI assessed to be an agent of the Russian government.