Democratic lawmakers on Saturday praised the release of their party’s rebuttal to a memo from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee purporting to detail surveillance abuses by the Justice Department against the Trump campaign.
In a series of statements, Democratic leaders said that their version of the memo, authored by Democrats on the committee and led by ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), debunked claims made by Republicans and exposed inaccuracies in the GOP memo.
In his statement, Schiff said his research should “put to rest” accusations of wrongdoing by the FBI, Justice Department (DOJ), or Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
“The Democratic response memo released today should put to rest any concerns that the American people might have as to the conduct of the FBI, the Justice Department and the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court],” Schiff wrote.
“Our extensive review of the initial [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] application and three subsequent renewals failed to uncover any evidence of illegal, unethical, or unprofessional behavior by law enforcement and instead revealed that both the FBI and DOJ made extensive showings to justify all four requests.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) went further in her statement, calling on Republicans to end “political charades” surrounding the Russia investigation following the memo’s release.
“The release of the House Intelligence Committee Democrats’ memo helps set the record straight on Republicans’ attempts to obstruct the investigation into the Trump-Russia scandal,” Pelosi wrote.
“It is imperative that Republicans in Congress end their political charades,” she added. “The Congress must finally come together to honor its constitutional oath to protect the American people, and take real action to investigate the Russian attacks on our democracy and ensure they never happen again.”
In the upper chamber, Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee…
