Heres whats actually in the Justice Department memo that Republicans claim is so shocking

[babylonsister]

ICYMI...

Here’s what’s actually in the Justice Department memo that Republicans claim is so shocking
The memo is reportedly filled with cherry-picked facts meant to paint the Justice Department in a nefarious light.
Melanie Schmitz
Jan 29, 2018, 12:03 pm


The contents of a secretive memo being circulated by Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill were finally made public on Sunday, after sources spoke with The New York Times and laid them out in detail. For the most part, the report appears to back what Democrats have contended: that the memo is comprised of “cherry-picked” facts meant to paint the Justice Department — which is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials — in a bad light.

The memo, which Republicans have called “shocking,” “troubling,” and “worse than Watergate,” reportedly focuses on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was appointed in April 2017. The Times report states that the memo shows Rosenstein “approved an application to extend surveillance” on former Trump campaign associate Carter Page, a subject in the ongoing Russia investigation, shortly after taking office.

As the Times notes, the surveillance renewal simply proves that the Justice Department, under Rosenstein’s guidance, “saw reason to believe that [Page] was acting as a Russian agent.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who supported President Trump during the 2016 election, recused himself from the Russia investigation in March last year.

Republicans, however, have said the memo is proof of corruption at the highest levels of the Justice Department. Until this week, the few Democrats who had actually seen the memo claimed that Republicans had carefully omitted certain information to throw the Justice Department’s Russia probe into question.

“…The reference to Mr. Rosenstein’s actions in the memo — a much-disputed document that paints the investigation into Russian election meddling as tainted from the start — indicates that Republicans may be moving to seize on his role as they seek to undermine the inquiry,” the report states.

According to the sources who spoke with the Times, the Republican assertion is that Rosenstein — a former member of the Whitewater investigation into President Bill Clinton — failed to communicate to the surveillance court judge that the Justice Department request to continue monitoring Page’s actions was based on information produced by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, who was hired by Democrats and Hillary Clinton’s campaign to seek out opposition research on Trump’s team. Steele was also retained by the research firm Fusion GPS, on behalf of the conservative Washington Free Beacon, early on in the campaign. (Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS, has repeatedly claimed that the decision to launch the Russia investigation was not based on information gleaned from his firm’s and Steele’s research.)

more...

https://thinkprogress.org/shocking-memo-not-so-shocking-5615da89165e/

[randr]

1. The whole exercise is meant to instill public distrust in our system of justice

After the memo is disclaimed the remaining fallout will be increased distrust of the investigation that is going to find the lsos and his cohorts guilty of treason.