>>> CARTER PAGE Ph.D. THE STORY OF JUST HOW IT WAS THE
GOVERNMENT CAME TO BE CONDUCTING
SURVEILLANCE OF HIM IN 2016 HAS
BEEN AT THE CENTER OF THE ENTIRE
DONALD TRUMP, TRUMP TV, DEVIN
NUNES CONSPIRACY THEORY THAT
SUPPOSEDLY PROVES THE ENTIRE
RUSSIA INVESTIGATION IS A HOAX.
TONIGHT THAT CONSPIRACY THEORY
HAS BLOWN UP IN SPECTACULAR
FASHION.
FASHION. IN AN UNPRECEDENTED MOVE OVER
THE WEEKEND, NEVER HAPPENED
BEFORE, THE FBI RELEASED A
REDACTED VERSION OF THE WARRANT
APPLICATION IT USED TO GET A
WARRANT FROM THE SECRET FISA
COURT, WHICH WAS REQUIRED TO
CONDUCT SURVEILLANCE ON ONE
CARTER PAGE, WHO IS AN AMERICAN
CITIZEN.
CITIZEN. TRUMP AND DEVIN NUNES, CHAIR OF
THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE
COMMUNITY, HAVE TRIED TO CLAIM
THE FBI MISLED THE COURT IN
ORDER TO GET THAT WARRANT.
A CLAIM THAT WAS AT THE HEART OF
THAT INFAMOUS NUNES MEMO WHICH
CLAIMED THE FBI HAD POLITICAL
MOTIVATIONS IN GOING AFTER
CARTER PAGE.
CARTER PAGE. DEMOCRATS ON THE SAME COMMITTEE
PROTESTED.
PROTESTED. THEY RELEASED A REBUTTAL MEMO
YOU MIGHT REMEMBER BASED ON THE
UNDERLYING EVIDENCE THEY HAD
THEMSELVES ALSO SEEN BUT WHICH
THEY WERE NOT AUTHORIZED TO
SHARE.
SHARE. EVERYONE WAS ARGUING ABOUT THIS
DOCUMENT WE HADN’T SEEN.
NOW WE’VE SEEN IT.
NOW WE KNOW THE TRUTH.
AS CHARLIE SAVAGE WROTE IN THE
"NEW YORK TIMES," "IN RESPECT
AFTER RESPECT, THE NEWLY
DISCLOSED DOCUMENTS CORROBORATED
REBUTTALS BY DEMOCRATS ON THE
PANEL WHO HAD SEEN THE TOP
SECRET MATERIALS AND ACCUSED
REPUBLICANS OF MISCHARACTERIZING
THEM TO PROTECT THE PRESIDENT."
NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS SAY
THE DOCUMENT SHOWED THE FBI HAD
PROBABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE THAT
PAGE HAD BEEN TARGETED BY THE
RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT FOR
RECRUITMENT AND THAT HE
ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS WITH
RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS,
INCLUDING RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE
OFFICERS, AND HAD BEEN
COLLABORATING AND CONSPIRING
WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT.
THAT’S IN THE WARRANT
APPLICATION.
APPLICATION. NOW, LET’S BE CLEAR.
CARTER PAGE HAS NOT BEEN CHARGED
WITH A CRIME.
YESTERDAY HE DENIED EVER HAVING
BEEN AN AGENT OF A FOREIGN
POWER.
POWER. >> THIS IS SO RIDICULOUS.
IT’S JUST BEYOND WORDS.
YOU KNOW, IT’S -- YOU’RE TALKING
ABOUT MISLEADING THE COURTS.
IT’S JUST SO MISLEADING, GOING
THROUGH THOSE 400-PLUS-PAGE
DOCUMENTS.
DOCUMENTS. WHERE DO YOU EVEN BEGIN?
IT’S LITERALLY A COMPLETE JOKE.
>> JOINING ME NOW, THE TOP
DEMOCRAT ON THE HOUSE
INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE,
INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE, REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF OF
CALIFORNIA.
CALIFORNIA. I’M NOT SURE WHERE TO START.
MAYBE WE START WITH THIS, THAT
THE CHAIR OF YOUR COMMITTEE,
DEVIN NUNES, DESPITE THE FACT
THAT I THINK INDEPENDENT FOLKS
WHO HAVE READ THROUGH THIS, WHO
HAVE FOLLOWED THIS STORY, SAY
THIS SORT OF KNOCKS DOWN A LOT
OF HIS THEORIES, HE RELEASED
THIS STATEMENT.
THIS STATEMENT. "THE NEWLY RELEASED DOCUMENTS
CONFIRM THE INTELLIGENCE
COMMUNITY’S LONG-STANDING
COMMUNITY’S LONG-STANDING ARGUMENT THAT UNVERIFIED
INFORMATION FROM THE STEELE
DOSSIER FORMED AN ESSENTIAL PART
OF ALL THE FISA APPLICATIONS ON
CARTER PAGE.
CARTER PAGE. IT PROVES THE FBI USED OUTRIGHT
POLITICAL PROPAGANDA TO SPY ON
AN AMERICAN CITIZEN DURING THE
ELECTION."
ELECTION." WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT?
>> WELL THERE, WERE CERTAIN
FUNDAMENTAL CLAIMS NUNES MADE IN
THE NOW DISCREDITED MEMO WHICH
WE CAN SEE IN THE FISA
APPLICATION WERE CERTAINLY NOT
TRUE.
TRUE. THEY CLAIMED FIRST OF ALL THAT
THE INVESTIGATION BEGAN WITH
THIS FISA WARRANT, IT ALL GOES
BACK TO THE TAINT OF THIS FISA,
WHEN OF COURSE THE INVESTIGATION
BEGAN WITH PAPADOPOULOS, BEGAN
WITH THE FBI LEARNING THAT THE
RUSSIANS HAD APPROACHED ONE OF
THE CAMPAIGN FOREIGN POLICY
ADVISERS AND TOLD THEM THAT THEY
HAD THE STOLEN E-MAILS, THAT
THEY WERE PREPARED TO RELEASE
THEM ANONYMOUSLY, AS THEY WOULD
LATER DO.
LATER DO. BUT THEY ALSO WENT ON TO
CHALLENGE WHETHER THE FBI
REVEALED TO THE COURT THAT
CHRISTOPHER STEELE, THIS
RESPECTED BRITISH INTELLIGENCE
OFFICER, FORMER OFFICER, WHETHER
HIS BIAS HAD BEEN DISCLOSED TO
THE COURT, THAT HE HAD BEEN
DOING THIS WORK ON BEHALF OF A
LAW FIRM RETAINED BY THE DNC.
THEY CLAIMED THAT THERE WAS NO
DISCLOSURE TO THE COURT WHEN IN
FACT NOW YOU CAN READ THE
APPLICATION AND YOU CAN SEE THEY
DID DISCLOSE THIS BIAS.
SO IN POINT AFTER POINT
BASICALLY THE NUNES MEMO HAS
BEEN DISCREDITED.
BEEN DISCREDITED. BUT THAT DOESN’T STOP EITHER
NUNES OR THE PRESIDENT FROM
SAYING OTHERWISE.
SAYING OTHERWISE. AND I WANT TO JUST HAMMER HOME
THAT POINT BECAUSE IT’S BEEN
SUCH A KEY PART OF THIS
COUNTERNARRATIVE, THE IDEA THAT
THIS SORT OF DEEP STATE
CONSPIRACY GETS THE DOSSIER,
GOES TO THE COURT AND DOESN’T IT
WILL THEM THE ORIGIN AT ALL,
IT’S A HUSTLE, IT’S A CON, THEY
HAVE THIS POLITICAL OPPO
DOCUMENT AND THEY GO TO THE
JUDGE AND SAY WE JUST FOUND
THIS, YOU SHOULD REALLY SURVEIL
THIS GUY.
THIS GUY. HERE IS WHAT FISA SHOWS.
FROM CHASHLIE SAVAGE’S "NEW YORK
TIMES" PIECE.
TIMES" PIECE. THE APPLICATION CONTAINS A
PAGE-LENGTH EXPLANATION THAT
DOES ALERT THE COURT THAT THE
PERSON WHO COMMISSIONED MR.
STEELE’S RESEARCH WAS, AND I
QUOTE HERE, LIKELY LOOKING FOR
INFORMATION TO DISCREDIT MR.
TRUMP’S CAMPAIGN.
TRUMP’S CAMPAIGN. THAT WAS LIKE THE WHOLE THING.
THAT WAS HOURS OF TELEVISION
PROGRAMMING.
PROGRAMMING. >> WELL, YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY
RIGHT.
RIGHT. AND OF COURSE THEY EMBELLISH IT
BY SAYING THERE’S NO MENTION OF
CLINTON, THERE’S NO MENTION OF
THE DNC.
THE DNC. WELL, THAT’S BECAUSE IN FISA
APPLICATIONS YOU MINIMIZE THE
NAMES OF U.S. PERSONS AND
ORGANIZATIONS SO AS IT APPEARS
IN THE FISA APPLICATION IT’S
CANDIDATE 1 AND CANDIDATE 2 BUT
THERE’S NO DISGUISING THE FACT
THE COURT WAS INFORMED OF THE
POLITICAL BIAS AND, YOU KNOW,
JUDGE AFTER JUDGE, FOUR JUDGES
APPOINTED BY THREE REPUBLICAN
PRESIDENTS, ALL FOUND PROBABLE
CAUSE FOR THE ORIGINAL WARRANT
AND THE EXTENSIONS.
AND THAT SPEAKS TO THE SUPPORT,
THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THOSE
APPLICATIONS.
APPLICATIONS. >> THERE’S THIS WEIRD THROUGH
THE LOOKING GLASS ARGUMENTS
ABOUT DISCLOSURE THROUGH ALL
THIS IN WHICH YOU HAVE HOUSE
INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS
FROM THE REPUBLICAN SIDE KIND OF
COLLABORATING WITH THE WHITE
HOUSE TO PUSH FOR CERTAIN KINDS
OF DISCLOSURE, THEY WANT ACCESS
TO CERTAIN DOCUMENTS, THEY WANT
TO SEE STUFF AT THE DOJ, THERE’S
A CONCERN FROM DOJ AND I THINK
FROM HOUSE DEMOCRATS THAT WILL
COMPROMISE THE INVESTIGATION.
IN THIS CASE MY UNDERSTANDING IS
YOU WERE OPPOSED TO THE RELEASE
OF THIS DOCUMENT, BUT I HAVE TO
SAY AS A REPORTER, AS SOMEONE
WHO’S FOLLOWED FISA FOR A LONG
TIME, IT SEEMS TO BE A GOOD
THING AMERICANS HAVE ACCESS TO
THIS DOCUMENT AND SUNSHINE IS A
GOOD DISINFECTANT.
GOOD DISINFECTANT. >> WELL, LOOK, AT THIS POINT
AFTER YOU HAD THE NUNES MEMO
ESSENTIALLY CHERRY-PICK
ESSENTIALLY CHERRY-PICK INFORMATION, MISLEAD THE PUBLIC,
AND WE HAD TO ISSUE OUR
CORRECTIVE MEMO, THEN THERE’S
LITTLE ADDITIONAL DAMAGE THAT’S
DONE IN ISSUING A REDACTED
VERSION OF THE FISA.
BUT WE SHOULD HAVE NEVER GONE
DOWN THIS ROAD TO BEGIN WITH.
IT WAS ALL A BOGUS TRUMPED-UP
EFFORT TO VALIDATE SOMETHING
DONALD TRUMP SAID IN A TWEET,
AND THAT IS "I WAS ILLEGALLY
SURVEILLED BY THE OBAMA
ADMINISTRATION AT TRUMP TOWER."
NOW, THAT IS NONSENSE AND HAS
BEEN DECLARED TO BE NONSENSE BY
BOTH THE FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE
CIA AS WELL AS THE DIRECTOR OF
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, THE
DIRECTOR OF NSA, BUT NONETHELESS
THIS EFFORT BY NUNES AND GOWDY
AND OTHERS HAS BEEN AN ATTEMPT
TO TRY TO SOMEHOW JUSTIFY THAT
BLATANTLY FALSE STATEMENT BY THE
PRESIDENT.
PRESIDENT. >> YOUR COLLEAGUE JERRY NADLER
WAS STRAIGHTFORWARD TODAY.
HE SAID DEVIN NUNES LIED.
IS JERRY NADLER RIGHT?
DID DEVIN NUNES LIE?
>> WELL, YES.
THIS IS A FALSE, PATENTLY FALSE,
PROVABLY FALSE STATEMENT.
BUT NOT JUST BY NUNES.
OTHERS SIGNED OFF ON IT TOO LIKE
TREY GOWDY AND INDEED THE ENTIRE
MAJORITY SIGNED OFF ON THAT
NUNES MEMORANDA.
NUNES MEMORANDA. NOW, NUNES HADN’T READ THE FISA.
SEW SIGNED OFF ON IT BLINDLY.
BUT TREY GOWDY HAD READ IT.
TREY GOWDY KNEW IT WAS FALSE,
THESE ARGUMENTS THEY WERE
MAKING, BUT NONETHELESS PUSHED
FORWARD.
FORWARD. NOW, HE SOUNDS A BIT DIFFERENT
NOW THAT HE WANTS TO BE A JUDGE.
BUT THAT’S NO FORGIVING THOSE
MISREPRESENTATIONS AND THE
DENIGRATION OF THE JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT, OF THE INTELLIGENCE
COMMUNITY, ALL IN THIS MISGUIDED
EFFORT TO DEFEND THE PRESIDENT