You may want to tamp down your expectations for the upcoming memo just a bit. The Washington Post reported last night that Chief of Staff John Kelly told Trump the memo isn’t as compelling as some had led them to believe:
The president did not actually see the memo — written by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Nunes’s staff — until Wednesday afternoon, following the committee’s Monday vote to initiate its release, officials said. White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly marched the document into the Oval Office so that he and Trump could briefly discuss it before the president’s meeting with regional reporters.
The president was then left alone to read the memo in its entirety.
A White House official said Kelly returned a few hours later and shared with the president his opinion: that releasing the memo would not risk national security but that the document was not as compelling as some of its advocates had promised Trump.
Not as compelling. I’m not exactly sure what he means by that, but it sounds like to me it won’t be as explosive as some have suggested. Perhaps because it’s just about Carter Page?
The memo alleges that the FBI used bad information passed on from a dossier written by a former British spy, and that this information was later used to obtain a warrant to conduct surveillance on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, according to people familiar with the document.
Or maybe it’s just not as convincing.
Former Acting and Deputy Director of the CIA has this suggestion:
Simple solution to Nunes "memo" issue. Release the original affidavit to the FISA court, along with any reauthorization(s), redacted for classification and privacy. This would allow the public to see how much material, in addition to the "dossier," was used with the court.
— Michael Morell (@MichaelJMorell) February 2, 2018
Former CIA analyst Buck Sexton thinks that’s a great idea, as do many:
He is 100% correct https://t.co/VdbeY0HCAS
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) February 2, 2018
Hugh Hewitt on the other hand isn’t as convinced:
What’s your level of confidence MM that staff would not inadvertently compromise techniques/targets etc? It sounds great but it isn’t the @FBI or @CIA doing the redacting with full knowledge of all capabilities of the adversaries. https://t.co/XHLoE6MLJK
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) February 2, 2018