The recent public disclosure of documents related to the 2016 FISA warrant filed against Carter Page, a former adviser to President Donald Trump’s campaign, has reignited conservative conspiracy theories about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Even though the documents revealed that Republicans like Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) lied about the origins of the Russia probe in their infamous memo, conservatives have been quick to claim vindication.
One of the key allegations in Nunes’ memo that the California Republican has continued to repeat is abuse of the FISA process. According to Nunes, the FBI misled the FISA court in order to surveil Page and ultimately investigate the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia.
Nunes’ counterpart in the Senate, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr (R-NC), sees it quite differently. Burr, whose committee agreed with the U.S. intelligence committee that Russia’s election interference was intended to help Trump, indicated there was nothing improper about how the Justice Department obtained its FISA warrant of Page when he was asked about it on Tuesday.
“There (were) sound reasons as to why judges issued the FISA,” Burr told CNN.
Burr also expressed concern about the recent release of the documents, which was spearheaded by Nunes. “I cease to be amazed by how much stuff we release publicly now,” he said.
For his part, Nunes refused to answer questions and criticized CNN when a reporter from the network asked about the discrepancies between his previous claims about abuse of the FISA process and what was revealed by the documents.
Undeterred by his latest embarrassment, Nunes now claims his allegations of FISA abuse will be vindicated if redactions are removed from the documents.