We're killing it

On Wednesday, the FBI took the extraordinary step of creating an unsigned document—a document in the name of the whole agency, rather than any individual—opposing the release of the Trump–Nunes memo. This followed a visit to the White House from both FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to personally oppose the release. And overnight, Democratic Representative Adam Schiff discovered that the memo Devin Nunes gave to Trump, was not the same as the one that was voted on in the House.

… the document sent for public review had been secretly altered ... After reviewing both versions, it is clear the Majority made material changes to the version it sent to the White House, which Committee members were never apprised of, never had the opportunity to review, and never approved.

Schiff’s response to the memo makes it clear that Nunes changed the document after the vote in the House. Nunes now contends that the changes he made were “minor,” and that Schiff’s desire to have the House vote on the actual document they were transmitting was pointless—as it might well be, since in the effort to release this memo, House Republicans have ignored all previous processes and precedent, something Schiff talked about in a Thursday editorial.

Even during the most difficult of times, when Congress had seemingly lost the capacity to govern and partisan storms raged across Capitol Hill, the intelligence committees remained largely insulated from the nation’s increasingly self-destructive politics. No more.

The House and Paul Ryan have followed Nunes off a cliff. And the real author of the memo has demonstrated his eagerness to go to war with his own agencies.