Rep. Devin Nunes took the stage today at the Conservative Political Action Conference to discuss the new memo released by Rep. Adam Schiff this afternoon. The new memo is intended to attack Nunes’ work in exposing surveillance of President Donald Trump with phony intelligence.
Nunes claimed that he wanted the Schiff memo to be released to the public, and says that none of the information in the new memo contradicts anything documented in his memo. He says he has nothing to fear and is only working for basic transparency.
“To have a secret court that gets abused like this is totally unacceptable,” Nunes said. He was careful to underscore the need for lawful surveillance to keep America safe, but calls for safeguards to be put into place that will prevent future abuses.
Additionally, Nunes stressed the need for investigations to restore accountability in our public institutions. He called for the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation to be investigated in an independent manner. Schiff, in his new memo, disagreed with the need for reform and argued on behalf of the status quo.
“FBI and DOJ officials did not ‘abuse’ the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process, omit material information or subvert this vital tool to spy on the Trump campaign,” the memo reads. Schiff’s memo can be viewed in full here.
Regardless of Schiff’s attempts to obfuscate the truth, Nunes will continue pushing for answers through any obstacles. After his speech concluded, Nunes was given the Defender of Freedom award by the American Conservative Union. This ceremony officially concluded the CPAC 2018 event.
