Nunes Confirms the Worst: FISAs on Carter Page Will Be Disaster for FBI
The release of heavily redacted versions of the FBI’s applications for surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page has generated speculation about what’s behind the black boxes that cover up a significant portion of the government documents.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes claimed in an interview that aired Thursday that what’s behind the redactions is “really bad,” and shows the FBI relied on flimsy evidence to obtain the spy warrants on Page.
“What’s in the redactions is equally bad, some would probably say worse than what the American people can see today,” Nunes said in an interview with Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton.
“I would argue that what’s left in there is really bad, if not worse, but also what’s not in there is even worse than what people can see, what people can’t see.”
On Friday, the Department of Justice released heavily redacted versions of four applications the FBI submitted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in order to obtain warrants to spy on Page, an energy consultant who joined the Trump campaign in March 2016.
The unredacted sections of the applications showed the FBI relied on the unverified Steele dossier to make the case that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as a foreign agent of Russia. The documents have started an intense partisan debate over whether the FBI misled surveillance court judges by relying on the dossier, which was funded by the Clinton campaign and the DNC.
Page has vehemently denied the allegations in the dossier. In the 35-page document, former British spy Christopher Steele alleged Page met secretly with two sanctioned Kremlin insiders during a trip to Moscow in July 2016. He also alleged that Page was the Trump campaign’s contact to the Kremlin for an alleged collusion conspiracy.
The FISA applications against Page also relied on a Sept. 23, 2016, Yahoo! News article that was based heavily on Steele’s allegations, but the applications showed that the FBI did not disclose that Steele was a source for the article. The FBI also erroneously stated that investigators did not believe that Steele was a source for the article.
Democrats have pushed back against Nunes and other Republicans, arguing the unredacted information met the probable cause standard required for FISA warrants. Some pundits also argued the redacted portions of the FISA applications likely include additional information that supports the FBI’s case that Page was acting as a clandestine agent of the Kremlin.
A few Republicans have disputed Nunes’s characterization of the FISA applications. On Tuesday, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr said the FISA court’s decisions to grant the warrants were “sound.”
There are indications that House Intel Republicans believe that the remaining redacted portions of the FISA applications will reflect poorly on the FBI, regardless of whether or not the FBI’s applications rose to the probable cause standard.
GOP members of the committee asked President Donald Trump on June 14 to declassify and release 21 pages from the fourth and final FISA application. The bulk of the pages fall under a section of the application with the sub-heading: “Page’s Coordination with Russian Government Officials on 2016 U.S. Presidential Election Influence Activities.”
Nunes came under heavy criticism Wednesday after it was revealed he was not one of the 31 lawmakers who reviewed less-redacted versions of the Page FISA applications. Nineteen members of the House Intelligence Committee have seen the documents.
But a committee source says Nunes and all other Republicans on the panel know what information is in the applications.
“Every Republican on the Intelligence Committee knows exactly what’s in the FISA warrant, which is why Members are united in requesting further declassification of it,” the source told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallern
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
