Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said the Democratic memo makes clear that Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was of interest because of his Russian ties well before the 2016 election. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo Rep. Himes disputes key GOP intelligence claim

Democratic Rep. Jim Himes countered Republican claims Sunday that a special surveillance warrant for Carter Page wouldn't have been granted had it not been for information in the so-called Steele dossier.

The GOP memo released earlier this month says then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe testified before the House Intelligence Committee in December that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court without some of the dossier information compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele. The origins of this warrant have been intensely debated because of its ultimate connection to Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.


"I was in the room. Devin Nunes was not in the room when Andrew McCabe was interviewed, and I will tell you that he did not say that," Himes (D-Conn.) said on "Fox News Sunday." "He did not say that a FISA warrant would not have been requested but for the Steele information."

The Democratic memo, released Saturday, contained no additional classified information that was made public, Himes said, "unlike the Republican memo."

"Again I was in the room, Andrew McCabe did not say that the FISA warrant would not have been sought," the Connecticut Democrat repeated.

The Democratic memorandum was released as a counterweight to the Republican one, which President Donald Trump declassified three weeks earlier. That memo claimed that FBI officials misled a secret court to obtain a warrant to spy on Page, a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser.

Himes said the Democratic memo makes clear that Page was of interest because of his Russian ties well before the 2016 election.

"As the Democratic memo now makes plain, the application to the FISA court for a warrant to monitor Carter Page was not based on the Steele information," Himes said.

"Carter Page, was of interest for his connection to the Russians for years before 2016 — October of 2016 — he'd had all sorts of contact," Himes said Sunday. "He'd been with the Russians. He'd been interviewed by the FBI. So, there's a long history of which the dossier is just a small part of that application to the Republican judges for a warrant."

McCabe has since left his post as the No. 2 FBI official, following criticism from the president.