After a week of breathless coverage of the supposedly explosive Nunes memo, the House Intelligence Committee finally released it to the public on Friday.
The response of experts in the field: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
SEE ALSO: 'Democracy dies in dankness' according to Trump Jr.The Nunes memo, named after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes whose aides wrote the thing, was supposed to demonstrate how certain FBI agents and Justice Department officials were and remain biased against Trump. Nunes alleged that the unverified Christopher Steele dossier, funded partly by the Hillary Clinton campaign, was used unjustly to warrant the surveillance of Carter Page, Trump's former foreign policy advisor.
None other than Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein signed off on that surveillance -- the man who, coincidentally, is responsible for supervising the Mueller investigation and who Trump is aching to fire.
But for all of the incessant speculation and frothing at the mouth, the memo appears to be something of a dud. It reads more like a thinly sourced Op Ed you'd find in The Federalist than anything of substance. And despite Nunes' framing of the surveillance as unwarranted and based on poorly conducted opposition campaign research -- his own memo contradicts him:
"The Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016 by FBI agent Pete Strzok," Nunes writes.
Here’s potentially the most important paragraph in the memo. It appears to confirm the NYT’s scoop — which was that the counterintelligence investigation began BEFORE the FISA applications against Page. Papadopoulos was already under investigation. Wow: pic.twitter.com/VadOFVYAUH
— David French (@DavidAFrench) February 2, 2018
What a genius.
Twitter had a field day with it.
Exclusive photo of Devin Nunes releasing his explosive memo pic.twitter.com/3ZUYKvxvII
— Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) February 2, 2018
I see many “this is a nothingburger,” but it most certainly is not. It’s also not an indictment of the process as entirely political, as it confirms the NYT’s reporting that Popadop and the Aussies also contributed to surveillance of Trump camp officials.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) February 2, 2018
BREAKING: the full text of THE MEMO here at last #ReleaseTheMemo pic.twitter.com/W0wALXuTcg
— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) February 2, 2018
Wait, one other thought: how on God’s green earth does Trump think even the best interpretation of this memo would justify him firing Rosenstein at DOJ or others at FBI?!
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) February 2, 2018
EXPLOSIVE MEMO* on climate sensitivity
— Kate Marvel (@DrKateMarvel) February 2, 2018
* how i'm referring to all my papers from now onhttps://t.co/9QZQokD8Wf
"Any chance this memo could blow up in our faces?"
— Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman1) February 2, 2018
"Don't worry about it. Nunes is a genius. Just put your faith in him."
- Every GOP member of the House and the entire White House staff, apparently
URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT: "Releasing a memo" is now slang for taking a dump.
— Ariel Dumas (@ArielDumas) February 2, 2018
Breaking: Nunes Memo Exposes Deep Bias, Corruption In Devin Nunes https://t.co/knGtoN09hi pic.twitter.com/BRDp3ETiGp
— The Onion (@TheOnion) February 2, 2018
oh my god the info in the memo fucked me up pic.twitter.com/rvW9MMyEHV
— jon hendren (@fart) February 2, 2018
Some things the Nunes Memo does not explain away:
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) February 2, 2018
1) The hack of DNC servers by 2 Russian intelligence agencies
2) George Papadopoulos's contacts with the Russians
3) Michael Flynn's negotiations with the Russian ambassador
4) the Trump Tower meeting
5) Firing Comey
Feels like we’re stuck in a reality TV show called “So You Think You Can Obstruct Justice.”
— Kashana (@kashanacauley) February 1, 2018
"So you think you can obstruct justice," President Trump? Well, probably, you can:
Sen. Orrin Hatch says he has confidence in Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein but said Trump may have to get rid of him if he becomes too controversial and can’t oversee the investigation.
— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) February 2, 2018
Happy Friday!
