Jesus Christ...

March 16, 2018 Dear Ms. Grutz: Thank you for taking the time to contact me. As your senator, it is important that I hear from you. I appreciate hearing your thoughts regarding the memo prepared by members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) that was declassified by President Trump on February 2, 2018, and subsequently released to the public. As you may know, the memo details alleged abuses by officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) in conjunction with efforts to secure a warrant to surveil a Trump campaign volunteer under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). HPSCI held a vote on January 29, 2018, and agreed to release the four page memo to the public, pending subsequent approval by the President or, failing that, approval by the House of Representatives, in accordance with the Committee’s rules. President Trump announced on February 2, 2018, that he would declassify the memo, and it was subsequently released. The White House stated that it conducted a legal and national security review before the President made his final decision to ensure that it would not negatively affect our intelligence community and the safety of Americans. I understand that there are concerns regarding another memo prepared by members of the minority who sit on HPSCI. On February 5, 2018, members of the Committee unanimously agreed to release that memo to the public. After initially denying the release of this memo because it contained classified information, President Trump allowed the Committee to release it on February 24, 2018, following a review by the DOJ in which sensitive information was redacted. As Speaker of the House Ryan has said, the preparation and release of these memos is completely separate from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. I have said many times that I believe that Mr. Mueller’s investigation should be allowed to take its course, and he should follow the facts wherever they lead.  The first of these two memos alleges that the FBI did not include material facts in its FISA application. Specifically, it alleges that the FBI did not disclose the nature of the funding for Christopher Steele’s research efforts and instead relied on a “convoluted statement buried in a footnote” in an attempt to avoid accurately informing the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) “in a straightforward manner.” Mr. Steele’s work was ultimately funded by the DNC and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. The second declassified memo alleges that the FBI’s request for a FISA warrant was proper and that the FISA application disclosed sufficient information to understand the political context of Steele’s efforts. I have serious questions about these allegations. Did investigators follow the rules when seeking a FISA warrant to surveil an American citizen, and did they do their due diligence in vetting information from outside sources? Were procedures ignored out of intent or incompetence? It’s no secret that I’ve got serious, long-standing questions about FBI conduct, especially in its handling of politically sensitive investigations over the past two years. I will continue to ask questions of FBI in the context of this issue. Senator Graham and I have outlined our concerns about this issue, and related issues, in a letter to the Inspector General of the Department of Justice. We have asked him to investigate. At the same time, any suggestion that the FBI or DOJ have become wholesale political operations is simply not true. The men and women of our federal law enforcement agencies serve and protect the public with honor. Unfortunately, the choices of a few officials have hung a cloud of doubt around the Justice Department and the FBI.  Again, thank you for reaching out to me, and I encourage you to keep in touch. Sincerely, Chuck Grassley