Washington (CNN)South
Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy said the recently released,
controversial GOP memo alleging FBI abuses of its surveillance authority
does not have "any impact on the Russia probe," and even without the
Steele dossier, there would be a Russia investigation.
"There
is a Russia investigation without a dossier," Gowdy said in an
interview that aired Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation," days after he
announced his decision not to seek re-election.
President Donald Trump authorized the release of the memo from the House Intelligence Committee on Friday, and has since claimed it
"totally vindicates" him in the ongoing investigation around
allegations of possible coordination between his associates and Russia
to influence the 2016 election.
Gowdy,
however, said he believes the memo does not affect the Russia
investigation and has no connection to key storylines about the matter.
"To
the extent the memo deals with the dossier and the FISA process, the
dossier has nothing to do with the meeting at Trump Tower," Gowdy said.
"The dossier has nothing to do with an email sent by Cambridge
Analytica. The dossier really has nothing to do with George
Papadopoulos' meeting in Great Britain. It also doesn't have anything to
do with obstruction of justice."
Lawmakers: Not 'vindication'
Gowdy was one of several lawmakers to say over the weekend that the memo did not vindicate the President.
Senate
Minority Whip Dick Durbin said on CNN's "State of the Union" that it is
the duty of Congress to focus on the Russia investigation and not seek
to absolve Trump. The Illinois Democrat also said the GOP memo
spearheaded by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes would
be "discredited" if a competing House Democratic memo becomes public.
"The information, the facts, tell a totally different story," Durbin said.
In
a separate CNN interview on the same program, Republican Rep. Brad
Wenstrup of Ohio signaled agreement with Gowdy that the memo is a
"separate issue" from vindicating Trump in the Russia probe.
"It's
more looking within the agencies, something we have oversight over,"
said Wenstrup, who, like Gowdy, is a member of the House Intelligence
Committee and supported the release of the memo.
Republican
Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, also a member of the committee, said on ABC's
"This Week" that he does not agree that the memo vindicates Trump and
downplayed the claims about the "explosive" nature of the memo from his
colleagues.
"I'm not shocked that elected officials are using hyperbole and exaggerations," Hurd said.
The memo
alleges the FBI, in seeking a warrant on former Trump campaign adviser
Carter Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, relied on a
dossier of allegations about Trump and Russia compiled by former
British intelligence official Christopher Steele, whose work for the
firm Fusion GPS was part of an opposition research project against
Trump.
In comments Friday
hinting there are more memos to come, Nunes said he had delegated the
task of reviewing the underlying intelligence that became the basis for
the GOP memo to Gowdy and two investigators, and that those were the
people who briefed the rest of the members of the intelligence panel.
In
the interview, Gowdy said the Steele dossier was not "the exclusive
information" the FISA court used for the Page warrant, but contended the
court would not have approved the warrant without the dossier.
"It would not have been (approved)," Gowdy said.
Gowdy
also reaffirmed his support for former FBI Director Robert Mueller's
leadership of the special counsel probe, saying he supports Mueller "100
percent," and that he would not "prejudge" Mueller's investigation,
despite having seen "no evidence of collusion."
No comments:
Post a Comment