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Adam Schiff, the Democrat who wrote the second memo Pablo Martinez Monsivais via PA Images

US House panel votes to release Democrats' rebuttal to Republicans' memo

The panel voted unanimously in favour of the release.

A US HOUSE panel has voted unanimously in favour of publicly releasing the Democratic rebuttal to President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans’ claims that the FBI abused its powers while investigating his campaign.

“The vote was unanimous to release this,” Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee, told reporters.

The panel’s action sets up a clash with Trump, who has five days to review the request to release the document.

Democrats had pushed to have it published after Republicans voted along party lines to declassify their own memo over objections by the FBI and Justice Department.

Trump had strongly backed the release of the Republican memo last week. Should Trump refuse to declassify the Democratic version, a standoff between the White House and Democrats could follow.

Republicans “found themselves in an insupportable position when they released a misleading memo and refused to release the Democratic response, so I think they were compelled to take the action they did today,” Schiff said.

Republican memo

The panel voted last week to declassify a memo composed by Chairman Devin Nunes that claims Democrat-funded research prompted the Federal Bureau of Investigation to spy on a former Trump campaign aide.

Democrats feared Trump would use the memo as a pretext for firing senior officials and subvert the investigation, led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US election and possible coordination between Trump’s camp and Moscow.

Schiff, concerned that the White House might “redact our memo for political purposes”, said he has asked the FBI and Justice Department to review his document and report back on what redactions if any, they would make to protect classified information.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said that, as a matter of “full transparency”, and given that Schiff’s memo is based on the same underlying documents as the Republican’s document, the president should be fully prepared to release it.

“If he refuses, the American people will be forced to wonder: what is the president trying to hide?” Schumer said.

Critics have warned that releasing evidence during a prominent investigation that could reach the highest level of government would set a dangerous precedent.

“However, we believe what the Republicans did last week with their false memo was so poisonous that the only antidote would be to correct the record and give the public the full picture” by publishing the Democratic counterpart, House Democrat Eric Swalwell told CNN.

© – AFP, 2018

Read: Donald Trump has united British politicians after he went after the ‘broke’ NHS

More: Holocaust denier to become Republican nominee for Illinois race for Congress

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    Mute Steve Austin
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    Feb 6th 2018, 8:04 AM

    These are the people who influence how the rest of the world gets on. Its quite frightening at times.

    66
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    Mute raymond grehan
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    Feb 6th 2018, 10:15 AM

    Explainer – It does not matter about what the democrats say in any new memo. If the core of what has been said in the first Nunes memo is true, this is the biggest political scandal in American history, and the biggest political scandal of all time, given the importance of America in the world. The Clintons paid a private company for dirt on Trump before the election. This is quite normal on in itself illegal or anything. This dirt was invented by an ex M16 agent who was paid for it and who leaked to the press – part of which was the ridiculous Pee gate story about hookers and Trump in a Moscow Hotel. This is the problem – the highest people in the FBI took this rubbish, and a subsequent story which appeared in Yahoo News, to the secret FISA court to justify spying on a man who was close to Trump – Carter Page. FISA courts are for spying on ‘F’oreign agents and not for American citizens like Carter Page and the court was not told of the origin of the so called intel. This man did business in Russia and the Clintons needed something, anything, to try and establish a link between Trump and Russia. The politicizing of US Intelligence agencies to help Clinton win and to try and destroy the candidate, and then presidency of the other party is why this is so serious. This is treason and sedition of the highest order which is punishable by death in America. Just to repeat …this is treason and sedition of the highest order which is punishable by death in America.The people involved in this will stop at nothing to stop the truth coming out. The Press are implicated too -just watch Ryan Tubridy interview Hilary Clinton and compare it to his interview of Sean Spicer and you will see that the fix is on. The Journal.ie on Saturday, the day after the memo was released, didn’t have one mention of Trump, or one of their daily anti Trump articles up. This is the subversion of a democracy and it is being exposed before out eyes.

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    Mute John Campbell
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    Feb 6th 2018, 10:24 AM

    @raymond grehan: thanks for the straightforward explanation of the facts. Regrettably there are many who refuse to see what is really going on and will continue to believe the fake news.

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    Mute raymond grehan
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    Feb 6th 2018, 10:37 AM

    @John Campbell: No problem John. There are fundamental principles at stake here, not only for the US, but for all western democracies. You may not like Trump, there are many things I find disagreeable about him, but he is the expression of the will of the American people through democratic means. The rule of law is at stake here, as is the entire integrity of press which is supposed to hold wrong doers accountable.

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    Mute rse biscuits
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    Feb 6th 2018, 10:37 AM

    @raymond grehan: Rumours going around now that Carter Page is an FBI informant and plant. Funny how all this spying was going on and they still have nothing on Trump. Gonna be a hell of a year.

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    Mute Jimmy Roughneen
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    Feb 6th 2018, 11:03 AM

    @raymond grehan: The dossier was not the only information the court relied on to approve the warrant. Steele is a respected former British intelligence agent, and some of the dossier’s findings, though by no means all, appear to be accurate. The judge wasn’t told that the dossier was funded by the Democrats, merely a partisan “political entity,” but the materials provided by the FBI made it obvious it was an entity opposed to Trump. The memo itself acknowledges — quietly — that the whole probe began with George Papadopoulos, another campaign adviser, months before Page even came into the picture.

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    Mute An bhearna
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    Feb 6th 2018, 11:21 AM

    @raymond grehan: I read all 4 pages of the original memo. To say it’s biased in favour of Trump and GOP is understatement of the year. It was a classic diversion piece and a blatant attempt at undermining the ongoing collusion investigation. In reality however there was nothing of any real substance in it. The US president’s attempt at spinning it as a great expose of FBI bias was pure Watergate. The last US president to do something similar was Nixon, hardly a bastion of truth and light, but judging by the current incumbent he was a model of probity. Your attempt at describing interviews by a minor Irish celebrity of American celebrities on an Irish station as “undermining democracy” is pure hysteria.

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    Mute Cathal Flood
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    Feb 6th 2018, 12:53 PM

    @raymond grehan: The 13th word in this article is “if” and it’s the most important one, the rest is pointless conjecture ,must be a trump memo !!

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    Mute Philip G Roark
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    Feb 6th 2018, 2:15 PM

    @raymond grehan: A total fake account fascist troll circle jerk of a thread you’ve got going here. Well done.

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    Mute Gerard J. Hannan
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    Feb 6th 2018, 7:45 AM

    This is hilarious if your 5 in a schoolyard. You told on me now I’m telling on you.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Feb 6th 2018, 2:08 PM

    @Gerard J. Hannan: not if you were the American people! Imagine all this going on in own country with no other problems getting solved? It’s all a bit crazy!

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Feb 6th 2018, 8:41 AM

    Is it even needed? There was nothing of consequence in the memo

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    Mute rse biscuits
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    Feb 6th 2018, 10:45 AM

    @Dave O Keeffe: The memo is just the beginning. This will have enormous consequences.

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    Mute White Rabbit
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    Feb 6th 2018, 11:06 AM

    @Malachi: enormous ones Malachi according poor old @rse biscuits

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    Mute rse biscuits
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    Feb 6th 2018, 11:16 AM

    @Malachi: See Raymonds excellent summary below. Or even just do some research yourself and stop being so lazy… failing all of that, just wait and see.

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    Mute Malachi
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    Feb 6th 2018, 11:52 AM

    @rse biscuits: Raymond’s ‘account’ is rubbish.

    Carter Page openly bragged about being an agent of the Kremlin in 2013, and the FBI correctly surveilled him.

    https://www.google.ie/amp/amp.timeinc.net/time/5132126/carter-page-russia-2013-letter

    The implication that this surveillence was unwarranted is amazing – he was proud of his connections to the Kremlin.

    Even Trey Gowdy, pro-Trump and chair of the House Select Committee on Benghazi (which grilled Hillary Clinton over her emails) admits that the memo itself shows that even without the Steele dossier, there would still be a Russia probe.

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trey-gowdy-breaks-with-trump-fisa-memo-doesnt-have-any-impact-on-robert-muellers-investigation/article/2648046

    Don’t bother with the ‘do your research’ spiel.

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    Mute rse biscuits
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    Feb 6th 2018, 12:04 PM

    @Malachi: Wow… its almost like Page was sent to the Trump campaign so as to give probable cause for future surveillance isn’t it?

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    Mute Malachi
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    Feb 6th 2018, 12:12 PM

    @rse biscuits: Is this another one of those ‘I have absolutely no evidence for this but I believe it because it makes me feel good’ arguments?

    The Trump campaign hired this man. That’s on them.

    You can’t just brush off a federal investigation by saying ‘ah he was set up’ with zero evidence – Nixon’s cheerleaders said the same.

    I play the facts game, not the feelings game. Give me some of the former and we’ll talk about your theory.

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    Mute rse biscuits
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    Feb 6th 2018, 12:16 PM

    @Malachi: Facts like lying about me “constantly” saying oh why should we care about US politics? Sorry dude but you damaged any credibility you might have had in those moments.

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    Mute Malachi
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    Feb 6th 2018, 12:21 PM

    @rse biscuits: You did it, you know it, and I provided evidence. Your problem if you’re in denial. They were your words buddy.

    Nice dodge, though. What facts do you have to suggest that he was set up?

    Or will you finally admit that you’re just being partisan, despite that stupendous claim the other day that you’re trying not to be?

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    Mute rse biscuits
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    Feb 6th 2018, 12:40 PM

    @Malachi: Sure man. Whatever you like.

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    Mute Malachi
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    Feb 6th 2018, 1:52 PM

    @rse biscuits: First comment deleted here too.

    What’s the story today? Is the moderator throwing a tantrum or something?

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    Mute rse biscuits
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    Feb 6th 2018, 4:24 PM

    @Malachi: Censors be censorin’

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    Mute Tom Tom
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    Feb 6th 2018, 7:34 AM

    This whole thing confuses the hell out of me.

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    Mute David Knight
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    Feb 6th 2018, 12:04 PM

    If anyone seriously believes that the one and only reason that Carter Page was put under surveillance was because of the report commissioned by the Clinton campaign, then they are delusional. The Republican memo set out to portray this to be the case, but that is such a selective interpretation, that it should be rightly corrected. The surveillance was approved by four separate judges, who availed of all the facts. Putting someone under scrutiny, spying on them if you will, seems to me to be an obvious precaution anyone would take, if that person is involved with an American presidential campaign, particularly when the person in question has freely admitted to being a Kremlin adviser. It should worry the American people why some of their representatives are trying so hard to prevent anyone looking at the role Russia played in the American election process.

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    Mute Francis Devenney
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    Feb 6th 2018, 10:23 AM

    If there was anything actionable in the republican memo, Trumps legal team would simply have taken it before a judge and got the investigation quashed or at the very least gotten an injunction prohibiting the use of evidence resulting from the surveillance.

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    Mute Shane Russell
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    Feb 6th 2018, 8:52 AM

    Can we get one of your explainer things lads? Haven’t really been following this

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    Mute Joe Caulfield
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    Feb 6th 2018, 10:49 AM

    More info to be released Francis. FISA application and transcripts could be released.

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    Mute Jane
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    Feb 6th 2018, 8:46 AM

    They are a small step away from my willy is bigger than your willy.

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    Mute Steve Austin
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    Feb 6th 2018, 8:48 AM

    @Jane: Trump already played that game in the run up to the elections.

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    Mute Walt Jabsco
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    Feb 6th 2018, 9:35 AM

    @Steve Austin:
    And he’s playing it with Kim Young ‘Un on an ongoing basis.

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    Mute rse biscuits
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    Feb 6th 2018, 10:58 AM

    Oh yeah? Well we’re gonna release our own memo! With blackjack and hookers.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Feb 6th 2018, 6:08 PM

    @rse biscuits: always worth getting the views of both sides even if it’s only to know that the truth is somewhere in the middle

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