Via Fox News:
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News on Friday that the memo alleging intelligence abuse during an investigation into the 2016 presidential campaign was released out of “an obligation to the American people.” He also said there’s “damning” evidence that the courts were misled in an attempt to surveil a Trump campaign member.
Appearing on “Special Report,” Nunes told Fox News’ Bret Baier that the motivation behind releasing the memo was protecting the rights of American citizens
“I have an obligation to the American people when we see FISA abuse,” Nunes said. “These are secret courts that exist to target for foreigners, for catching terrorists, for catching people who might be bad actors and the American citizens that are represented before this court have to be protected, and the only place that can protect them is the U.S. Congress when abuses do occur.”[…]
The memo said it was not disclosed that the dossier was authored by an outspoken Trump critic, Christopher Steele. Democrats say the court was notified.
“No,” Nunes said when asked if this was true. “These guys tell so many lies you can’t keep track of them. The court was not made aware.”
If this was the case, Baier asked Nunes, why not include a transcript of McCabe’s testimony?
“I wouldn’t mind doing that,” Nunes said. “The quotes are pretty damning themselves,” but he added that it is a long process. “It’s a summation of a long interview but that is definitely what he said.”
Nunes noted that there are other testimonies to corroborate McCabe’s statement.
“We have other witnesses who said very similar things. The fact of the matter is the main things that were used to go out and get this warrant was the dossier and the story that corroborated the dossier.”
Nunes said he strongly believes that without the dossier, the court would not have authorized the surveillance. “They wouldn’t have received a warrant without the dossier. The dossier was presented to the court as if it were true. The court was not told that the Democrats actually paid for this,” Nunes said.