Part 2 - Does the Schiff memo disprove the Nunes memo claims?

Part 2 - Does the Schiff memo disprove the Nunes memo claims? 

Bottom Line: When the Nunes memo was released I broke out 30 statements of fact in the memo. At the time I mentioned that if any of the 30 were to not be disproven - we'd have clear evidence of corruption and conspiracy at the highest levels of the DOJ & FBI (if not elsewhere). Prior to the release of the Schiff memo - none of the claims had been specifically disproved. The main purpose of the Schiff memo is to discredit the Nunes memo. So, let's see what's real and what isn't. This is somewhat complicated because it requires taking each of the 30 claims in the Nunes memo and running them against the Schiff statements of fact. So here we go... 

  • 1st claim in the memo...Both the DOJ and the FBI petitioned the FISA court to begin to surveil a Trump campaign advisor (Carter Page) on October 21st, 2016 - just two and a half weeks before the election. Verified 

  • 2nd claim...The application had to be certified by the FBI's Director or Deputy Director & The AG, Deputy AG, or Assistant AG to the NSA. Not disputed  

  • 3rd claim...The initial warrant on Carter Page was issued & renewed three times (every 90 days) - which now takes you through the campaign, the election, the President-elect period and early days as President. Verified 

  • 4th claim...FBI Director James Comey singed three warrants Not disputed  

  • 5th claim...Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe signed one Not disputed  

  • 6th claim...Deputy AG, Sally Yates signed at least one Not disputed  

  • 7th claim...Deputy AG, Dana Boenta signed at least one Not disputed  

  • 8th claim...Deputy AG, Rod Rosenstein signed at least one Not disputed  

  • 9th claim...Christopher Steele was an FBI source Verified 

  • 10th claim...Christopher Steele was paid over $160,000 by the DNC and Clinton campaign to create it via Perkins Coie & Fusion GPS Not disputed  

  • 11th claim...the purpose was to obtain "derogatory information" on Trump ties to Russia Verified 

  • 12th claim...the funding of the dossier by the DNC & Clinton Campaign was never disclosed to the FISA court Verified - The Schiff memo said they disclosed a politically motivated financial backing for the dossier but didn't specifically disclose the DNC & Clinton campaign despite knowledge 

  • 13th claim - The DOJ and FBI officials who signed off on it knew that the DNC & Clinton Campaign paid for it to be created - Not disputed  

  • 14th claim - The FISA requests left the sourcing of the dossier out of the warrant request, despite knowing it was Fusion GPS...  Not disputed  

  • 15th claim The FBI authorized an additional payment to Christopher Steele for the dossier Disputed/potentially disproved (while the Nunes memo didn't state that the payment was actually made it's known and the Schiff memo states it wasn't) 

  • 16th claim - On September 23rd of 2016 Yahoo News ran a story linking Carter Page to Moscow that was used in the FISA requests as corroborating evidence Disputed (the Schiff memo cites the Yahoo reporting but suggests that it wasn't related to the FISA process) 

  • 17th claim Christopher Steele leaked the story to Yahoo News Not disputed  

  • 18th claim - the FISA request asserts that Steele wasn't the source of the Yahoo story Not disputed  

  • 19th claim - In a British court Christopher Steele cited that he was the source of the Yahoo News story Not disputed  

  • 20th claim - Perkins Coie - the DNC & Clinton law firm used for the Dossier funding was aware of the Steele leak Not disputed 

  • 21st claim - Perkins Coie held a meeting with Steele and Fusion GPS after the leak to discuss the matter Not disputed  

  • 22nd claim - Steele was suspended and fired after revealing he was an FBI source to Mother Jones on October 30th Verified 

  • 23rd claim - After being fired by the FBI he maintained contact with the Justice Department - specifically Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr and senior officials who were direct reports to Deputy AG's Salley Yates and later Rod Rosenstein Verified 

  • 24th claim - In September of 2016 Christopher Steele told Deputy AG Bruce Ohr "was desperate that Donald Trump not be elected" Not disputed 

  • 25th claim - Deputy AG Bruce Ohr's wife was employed during this time by Fusion GPS to cultivate the dossier - Disputed/potentially disproved (The Schiff memo states that Ohr's wife worked for Fusion GPS after the dossier had been created and relationship with Steele severed by the FBI) 

  • 26th claim - Deputy AG Bruce Ohr provided his wife's research, paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign to the FBI Not disputed (though Ohr's role and significance was specifically explained in the Schiff memo to be overstated) 

  • 27th claim - Deputy AG Bruce Ohr's wife's role was never disclosed to the FISA court Not disputed  

  • 28th claim - FBI Counter-intelligence Assistant Director Bill Priestap cited the dossier investigation as only being in its quote "infancy" at the time of the initial FISA warrant request Not disputed 

  • 29th claim - FBI Director James Comey offered a summation of the dossier to President-Elect in January of 2017 Trump despite its lack of corroboration Not disputed  

  • 30th claim - Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe testified in December of 2017 that the warrants wouldn't have been issued without the Dossier Not disputed 

So, here's the score card... Comparing the Schiff memo to the Nunes memo side-by-side: 

Verified claims: 5 

Undisputed claims: 22  

Disputed claims: 3 

If we were to provide benefit of the doubt to the Schiff memo over the Nunes memo in the three places, there's contradictory information we have 27 statements of fact that are still left standing. It's ironic that more claims in the Nunes memo are verified by the Schiff memo than specifically contradicted with statements of fact. The summation of this analysis, by any objective person, would lead one to conclude that unless there's much more to the story to disprove the remaining statements of fact by the Nunes memo - we very much are looking at a grand conspiracy involving the highest-ranking officials at the DOJ and FBI (at a minimum).  


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