THREAD: Because through all the "memo" news and headlines, it's critical to remember why this issue is important and why it should matter to everyday Americans.



What this issue is all about: whether the Department of Justice and FBI, under President Obama, abused their surveillance authority against American citizens and political opponents. Put another way: was the Obama DOJ weaponized to spy on the Trump campaign?



Remember, in general, the DOJ and FBI spying on American citizens should automatically be met with MAJOR skepticism. That's what the Fourth Amendment is designed to protect against. When those American citizens are ALSO political opponents? It should raise even more red flags.



So, take that principle, and look at what happened in this case. The DOJ spied on Carter Page, an American citizen. Red flag. Carter Page was also part of the Trump campaign. Double red flag. It should automatically raise questions.



Now, pause: we know about the Peter Strzok/Lisa Page texts, the "missing" texts, the McCabe concerns, etc. But this is about more. Focus on the dossier here - the political opposition research project put together by Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS, and the DNC by extension.



Quite simply: This infamous "Russian Dossier" was unverified political opposition research paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC. If the Department of Justice used information like that as a key part of getting a surveillance warrant, it would be a HUGE problem.



Now, from what we've already known for months, it sure looks like that's exactly what happened: that the FBI used that very dossier to get a warrant. @Jim Jordan asked the FBI about it 2 months ago. I asked too. We asked for the FISA application, and the FBI wouldn't show us. WATCH:

We've asked repeatedly for information from the FBI, both privately and publicly. We've openly told FBI and DOJ officials - if we're wrong, tell us! Tell us what was in the FISA application. Let us see the document. But we've been stonewalled for almost a year.



So the bottom line is this: if, in 2016, the DOJ and FBI used an unverified, Clinton/DNC paid-for dossier to spy on American citizens (and political opponents) in the Trump campaign, that is as wrong as it gets. If that happened, Americans deserve to know about it. Period.



I know we live in a hyper-partisan environment, and I know it can be easy to disregard any inquiry like this as party politics. I understand that. But this is so far above politics, folks. Lady Justice wears a blindfold. Her scale is supposed to be balanced.



If any Department of Justice, Republican or Democrat, put their thumb on the scale for the sake of politics - it would undermine the very fabric of who we are as a nation. Americans deserve the truth, one way or the other.



Last point: If you remember anything from this news cycle, remember: your right as an American to privacy from your government spying on you is critical. It is foundational to who we are as a Republic. Never take that right for granted, no matter the political party you belong to. (link)

There continue to be questions about the substance behind the pending release of the House Intelligence Committee memo. With that release in mind, today it is worthwhile remembering this is the beginning of exposing the corruption within the DOJ not the end.For several years the U.S. justice department has maintained an attitude of non-accountability within its ranks. The Obama years elevated that attitude and provided multiple examples of a DOJ gone rogue.A complicit mediaby engineering a false narrative the U.S. Justice Department was/is an independent fourth branch of government; unaccountable to congress and entirely separate from the executive branch.The House Intelligence Memo is simply using the example of currently known FISA abuse to open the door and show the U.S. electorate how corrupt this unaccountable institution has become. Behind that door are very uncomfortable realities for all of those who constructed the weaponized agency; and also those who have benefited from it.Consider:♦When IRS head Lois Learner unlawfully sent the 21 CD-ROM's containing the "Schedule B" filings of over a million Americans to the Obama administration, the recipient was the DOJ. ( LINK in their " Secret Research Project ".♦When U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen demanded DOJ lawyers attend ethics classes due to their false representations to his court -♦When the case against the Bundy family was recently thrown out of court,highlighted by the judge. ( LINK This is the same DOJ who denied their own Office of Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, the right to conduct oversight on DOJ internal action. ( LINK - pdf ) The expressed Justice Department intent in every action has been. This is the pervasive attitude, an air of ideological unaccountability, found rampant within every corrupt system.So it doesn't come as a surprise when the epicenter of that attitude in Washington DC balks at the concept of having oversight, and thumbs their nose at congress by refusing to turn over the underlying FISA application documents.The House Intelligence Committee, Chairman Devin Nunes, has oversight over the entire intelligence apparatus, including DOJ/FBI counterintelligence and the FISA Courts. The House Judiciary Committee, Chairman Bob Goodlatte, has statutory oversight over the entire Department of Justice. The Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Chuck Grassley, has oversight over the federal court processes used by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Office of Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, is the internal DOJ watchdog.Unfortunately the corruption appears systemic within the entire justice system. This is the problem currently being confronted.. The American people became the threat to their system. The American people became their enemy. This outlook sounds stark, but this is exactly the way the DOJ has behaved.We The People are in an abusive relationship with the Department of Justice.Representative Mark Meadows puts it thusly The release of the House Intelligence Memo is only the tip of the iceberg; the crack in the door to see just how corrupt the unaccountable Justice System became.There are going to be many more revelations as the investigations into the FBI and DOJ continue. Combine that understanding with the pending OIG Horowitz report, and we have only just begun to see how bad this is...The key aspect to begin restoring a system when it has fallen into the clutches of corruption, is to remove their internal image of unaccountability. The DOJ and FBI are part of the Executive Branch. We need to constantly remind people of that, and push back against this insufferable media-generated narrative of the DOJ being an independent fourth branch of government.