The White House is finally getting the message that the right wing TV (FOX) and websites like Breitbart, InfoWars and the Conservative Treehouse blog have been over-hyping the value of the Rep. Devin Nunes Anti-FBI memo, 4 pages of selectively collected notes compiled from intelligence material (FISA warrant regarding Carter Page). The right has been touting this memo as the one sure vehicle to blow the FBI Trump-Russian probe to smithereens where the republican President Donald Trump would be vindicated to where he would be released from this witch hunt. Unfortunately, this is where conspiracy theories built into a convincing narrative, but in reality “fake news” can do real harm.
It has been reported that the president’s Chief of Staff General John Kelly who had been a strong proponent of releasing this memo, has advised the president that it will not have the impact they had anticipated.
This is another success story for Russia’s 2016 relentless attack on US politics, where they can smile and celebrate about how much discord they have sowed into our politics where real damage is being done to our democratic institutions. What is so disheartening to observe, is that it is our own who are assisting Russia to meet its goal.
Here’s the rest of the story…
On February 1, 2018, Jonathan Swan of AXIOS penned the following report, “Rising White House fear: Nunes memo is a dud”
“Inside the Trump administration, sources who’ve been briefed on the Nunes memo expect it will be underwhelming and not the “slam dunk” document it’s been hyped up to be.”
“What we’re hearing: There is much more skepticism inside the administration than has been reported about the value of releasing the memo, according to sources familiar with the administration discussions.”
Gronda Morin 
No matter what happens regarding the contents of this memo, Nunes should be permanently removed from the intelligence committee, or at the very least, have his chairmanship revoked. What he’s done is proven that he doesn’t have the country’s or even the Republican Party’s best interest at heart. As Joe Walsh has said: “He’s not the Chair of the House Intel Committee. He’s the Chair of Trump’s re election campaign.” I would LOVE to see this blow up in Nunes and the other Republicans on the committee faces.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Kim,
The president is proving to everyone that he is a Russian Asset and his republicans in the House Intelligence Committee have been aiding and abetting a Russian asset.
The president doesn’t care about the consequences as long as it helps him.
The House Leader Paul Ryan has some explaining to do.
Hugs, Gronda
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gronda, your title hit the nail on the head! The memo is a non-event, hyped up to discredit the FBI and red herring the Russian investigation. As you know, I monitor both sides for the spin… Repubs hail release of the memo as a great victory:
“Trump has been telling confidants in recent days that he believed the GOP House members’ document would validate his concerns that the FBI and Justice Department conspired against him.
The president also has told allies that he believes the memo bolsters his claim that accusations of collusion between his campaign and Russian officials are false and part of a conspiracy to discredit his election.”
Democrats on the intelligence panel made a last-ditch effort Wednesday evening to stop the release, lying that the memo had been “secretly altered” by the Republicans who wrote it.
LikeLike
Dear 1EarthUnited,
The memo is a DUD and it is anticlimactic. But damage has been done. The IC community will now hesitate to share data with the House Intelligence Committee because the members can’t be trusted to protect whatever is shared from being leaked or made public on a whim for partisan purposes.
The memo had been altered after passage but Rep Nunes argued that Rep. Adam Schiff was “complaining about minor edits to the memo, including grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and by the minority themselves.” It’s a question about significance of the changes.
Hugs, Gronda
LikeLike