David Nunes, the House Intelligence Committee Chairman accused Democrats Monday of hypocrisy, adding that there is a “clear link” between them and Russia during the 2016 elections.
The Republican was a guest on the Fox News show “Hannity” where he accused Democrats of attacking the memo that was drafted by his office which showed the Justice Department approved a surveillance program against Trump’s campaign adviser based on information gained from a political dossier compiled by the former British spy Steele.
“We have a clear link to Russia — you have a campaign who hired a law firm, who hire Fusion GPS, who hired a foreign agent, who then got information from the Russians on the other campaign,” the Republican chairman said.
“It seems like the counterintelligence investigation should have been opened up against the Hillary campaign when they got ahold of the dossier. But that didn’t happen, either,” Nunes added.
According to The Hill, Nunes also claimed that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court that granted the warrant against Trump aide Carter Page wasn’t informed of the political origins of the funding behind the dossier, though it’s been reported that officials had disclosed the political nature of the dossier.
On the other hand, the memo clearly shows that the FBI investigation into Russia interference in the elections was triggered by information regarding former Trump campaign staffer George Papadopoulos, and the dossier comes later.
The Hill also reported that the intelligence community believes the Kremlin hacked U.S. groups in 2016 with the intention of helping to elect President Trump.
Just before Nunes gave his statements, the House Intelligence Committee unanimously voted to release the Democratic memo that counters his own. Led by Adam Schiff, Democrats say that their memo dismisses Nunes’s claims of abuse by the DOJ.
President Trump has five days to decide if the Democratic memo will be released publicly, as he did last week with the Nunes’ one.
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