A memo compiled by the House Intelligence Committee has several Republican Congressmen rattled. Thursday afternoon, lawmakers began demanding declassification of key points of a FISA Memo which they say “raise serious questions about the upper echelon of the Obama DOJ and Comey FBI” in the Russia/collusion investigation.

Rep. DeSantis (R-FL) tweeted:

The classified report compiled by House Intelligence is deeply troubling and raises serious questions about the upper echelon of the Obama DOJ and Comey FBI as it relates to the so-called collusion investigation. — Ron DeSantis (@RepDeSantis) January 18, 2018

While the report is classified as Top Secret, I believe the select committee should, pursuant to House rules, vote to make the report publicly available as soon as possible. This is a matter of national significance and the American people deserve the truth. — Ron DeSantis (@RepDeSantis) January 18, 2018

Now, several lawmakers are demanding the key points of the memo be made public:

Just read the classified doc @HPSCI re FISA abuse. I'm calling for its immediate public release w/relevant sourced material. The public must have access ASAP! #Transparency — Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) January 18, 2018

Releasing this classified info doesn't compromise good sources & methods. It reveals the feds' reliance on bad sources & methods. — Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) January 18, 2018

Rep. Gaetz (R-FL) urgently suggested the House quickly move to disclose the findings of the report:

The House must immediately make public the memo prepared by the Intelligence Committee regarding the FBI and the Department of Justice…There is no higher priority than the release of this information to preserve our democracy.https://t.co/CgC0qEqlSp — Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 18, 2018

The facts contained in the Intelligence Committee's memo regarding the @FBI and @TheJusticeDept are jaw-dropping and demand full transparency. The House must make public the #FISAmemo immediately. https://t.co/CgC0qEqlSp — Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 18, 2018

Because the report is classified, there’s very little information available about its specific content, but here’s a bit of background provided by Rep. Gaetz in an official statement Thursday:

In December, Rep. Gaetz questioned Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in the House Judiciary Committee hearing about the clear examples of bias and conflicts of interest at the Department of Justice (DOJ), and within Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators. In his questions, Rep. Gaetz asked when the DOJ learned that Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce J. Ohr had contacted Christopher Steele, former British spy and author of the infamous ‘Trump dossier,’ a document called “salacious and unverified” by former FBI Director James Comey. Additionally, Rep. Gaetz asked when the DOJ discovered that Mr. Ohr’s wife, Nellie, was employed by Fusion GPS, the company that sponsored the creation and distribution of the dossier. Mr. Rosenstein said that he could not answer Rep. Gaetz’s questions, but that documents would be turned over to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence — even though the Judiciary Committee, not the Intelligence Committee, has oversight authority over the DOJ. Earlier in December, Rep. Gaetz questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray about former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe’s statement that the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s misuse of a personal email server was “referred to as ‘special’” and that “the decision was made to investigate it at HQ with a small team.” In November, Reps. Gaetz, Gohmert, and Biggs, all members of the Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Director Wray, asking for an investigation to be launched into the FBI’s treatment of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during their e-mail investigation. On December 6th, Congressman Gaetz, alongside Congressmen Jim Jordan (OH-04), Mark Meadows (NC-11), Scott Perry (PA-04), Jody Hice (GA-10), and Andy Biggs (AZ-05), held a press conference calling for an investigation into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) system and procedures that allow special treatment and bias to take place, in order to prevent “special” treatment from happening again.

Thursday night, the House Intelligence Committee passed a motion along party lines making the memo available to lawmakers outside of the committee.

From Sara Carter:

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., offered the motion on Thursday to make the Republican majority-authored report available to the members. “The document shows a troubling course of conduct and we need to make the document available, so the public can see it,” said a senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the document. “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.” The document also apparently outlines “several problematic” issues with how FISA warrants were “packaged, and used” state several sources with knowledge of the report. Over the past year, whistleblowers in the law enforcement and intelligence community have revealed to Congress what they believe to be extensive abuse with regard to FISA surveillance, as previously reported. The dossier was used in part as evidence for a warrant to surveil members of the Trump campaign, according to a story published this month. Former British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled the dossier in 2016, was hired by embattled research firm Fusion GPS. The firm’s founder is Glenn Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who has already testified before Congress in relation to the dossier. In October, The Washington Post revealed for the first time that it was the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC that financed Fusion GPS. Congressional members are hopeful that the classified information will be declassified and released to the public. “We probably will get this stuff released by the end of the month,” stated a congressional member, who asked not to be named. But the government official, who viewed the document said “it will be tough for a lot of people to see this and especially the media, which has been attempting to deemphasize the dossier. It’s going to punch a hole in their collusion narrative.” The House vote to make the report available to all members is a major step in exposing the long-guarded classified documents obtained by the House Intelligence Committee over the past year. It allows members of the House to view the report and could quickly lead to a motion to declassify the report for the public, numerous House members told this reporter.



