Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) departed from many of his Democratic colleagues by urging Congress to release both the GOP memo detailing abuses within the FBI and the Democrats’ countermemo, saying Thursday on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that people “need to know” what’s in both memos.
The GOP memo’s release is expected Friday. Congressional Democrats, led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), vehemently fought making public the document compiled by House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). But Garamendi dismissed his colleagues’ concerns, telling host Laura Ingraham that the American people must be allowed to “judge exactly what this is all about” for themselves.
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“Now the Democrats have their memo. The Republicans have their memo. Put them both out there,” Garamendi said. “Let the public judge exactly what this is all about. We need to know.”
Garamendi said he has not read the GOP memo.
“I know this is coming out. It’s going to be out tomorrow probably, and we’ll review it,” Garamendi said. “We are in a very charged, highly partisan situation in that committee and in the Congress, and really around this country. And what we have to do is to make sure that our intelligence agencies are acting properly under the restrictions of the Constitution and able to protect this nation.”
One way in which Congress can hold the FBI accountable would be to release both memos, Garamendi said.
“Let’s get it done. Put them on the table and let’s get the information out there,” Garamendi said. “That’s what we have to do.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) pushed back against Democrats’ claims that releasing the Nunes memo would compromise national security interests and undermine the FBI and the Department of Justice.
“There’s some fantastic folks” in the FBI, Lankford said. “But it’s very clear there are also some people … that worked in the Hillary Clinton email scandal and then were hired on to do the Trump investigation by the special counsel that clearly had biases against President Trump and were trying to support Hillary Clinton in the campaign. There’s no question about that.”
“So this is not a challenge to the 35,000 hardworking men and women keeping us safe in the FBI,” Lankford continued. “This is a challenge to probably people they are frustrated with that are in headquarters, that are not following basic FBI code and procedures.”
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Lankford also responded to a tweet issued Thursday by former FBI Director Jim Comey, whom Trump dismissed in May 2017.
“All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would,” Comey tweeted. “But take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.”
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Lankford called Comey’s reaction to the ongoing controversies “a little stunning” because “clearly the FBI — if they have a bad actor there that is a biased person, then that person needs to be cleared as well,” Lankford said. “Again, we have 35,000 great folks there serving. We need to continue to honor their service as well.”
PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.
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