' fQIUI וtl'';ז:ז~ f!J@8RIi '8'11 TO: AII Members ofthe House of Representatives Minority ז FROM: HPSC DA'fE: January 29,2018 e Record - Thc Russia Invcstigations וי g t וRE: Correctil s against the ךlegatiol ו ouse of Representatives its a ו ·Thc HPSCI Majority' s move to release to the l is a transparent effort (נnvestigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (OO ז Federal Bureau of gress' investigations. It also risks ח e Special Counsel, and COרו e those agencies, t ךto undermil . ethods for no Jegitimate purposeןן public exposure of sensitive sources and I , ce Act (FISA) proccssח igence Surveilla ו officials did not "abuse" the Foreign Intel נ Oס FBI and .rump campaign"ך the חס formation, or subvert this vital tool to spy ךזi ו omit matcria and the FBI would have been remiss in their duty to protect the country had they not נ Oס , In fact , ewals to conduct temporary survcillance ofCartcr Pagc ך sought a FISA warrant and repeated rel someone the FBI assessed to be an agent ofthe Russian government. OOJ met the rigor , and evidentiary basis needed to meet FISA's probablc cause requirement, by י transparencY : g ח demonstrati ; eous evidence of Russia's election interference ךo contemporal o concerning Russian links and outl'cach to Tl'ulnp calnpaign officials ; o Page's history with RLlssian intelligence; and o Page's suspicious activities in 2016, including in Moscow . The Committee's Minority has therefore prepared this memorandum to correct the record: • Cllristophcr Stecle's raw intclligcllcc reporting did not inform the FBI's decision to -fact, the FBI's closely חן . telligencc investigation in latc July 2016 וinitiate its counteril nore than sevenז - y received Steele's reporting in mid-September ו held investigative team on into links ךweeks later. The FBI- and, subsequently, the Special Counscl's - investigatiol e Russian government and Trump campaign associates has been based on ןו between t ,"telligence information unrelate<! to the "dossier ןnent and il וtroubling law enforce ewa)s carefully ן DOJ's Octobcr 21, 2016 FISA application and thrcc subsequcnt rCI • g Page, who, at the time of וcd for the Court a multi-pronged rationale for surveillil וoutlil ed Page's past ו ger with the Trtlmp campaign. DOJ detai וOI ו the first application, was no 6 ו f cials during the 20וRussian of י d interaction witlך spies al ך llssial זships with I ן relatiol campaign, DOJ cited multiple soul'ces to Stlpport the case for surveilling Page - but made only narrow use of information froln Steele' s sources about t y his suspected July 2016 meetings in Moscow witl1ו chie .2016 וז Page's specific activities i , fact חן ' . Russian ofii cials e veryיו ligence. t ו the FBI interviewed Page in March 2016 about his contact with Russian inte .im a foreign policy advisor ןald Trump named I ןז month candidate DO , formed the Court in subsequent renewals ןil נ Oס As Stee)e's reporting about Page's Moscow mcetings applications did.!lQ! otherwise rely on Steele's reporting, incl Llding any "salacious" allegations 1 • I י8I?ttM זי'ז'; '18MI!It!81 '8'81 'י P i'IiCRFT'()IASQU." about Trump, and the FBr never paid Steele for this reporting, While explaining why the FBI : d sources as reliable and credible, 001 also discloscdח g aח viewed Steele's reporti ; ship with the FBJח o Steelc's prior rclatio for his termination as a source; and חo the fact of and reaso ,ון itical motivation ofthose who hired hil ו e assessed po וו o t • The Committec Majority's memorandum, which draws selectively 00 higbly sensitive classified information, includes otber distortioDs and misrepresentations that are ts, which the vast majority ofMembers of חf ed documeו contradicted by the underlying cJassi the Committee and the House have not had the opportunity to review - and which Chairman ose not to read himsclf. J ו Nunes cl Background ess meeting, forced aח ated busi ו January 18, 2018, the Committee Majority, dUl'ing an unre חס g serious ח g mcmorandL.lm allegiח Jotlse a profoLlndly misleadi-ו I ו surprise vote to release to the fu abuses by the FB I and OOJ. Majority staff drafted the docLllnent in secret on behalt' of Chairman PUt fl'on1 Rep, Trey Gowdy), and then rushed ו es (and reportedly with guidance and ilח Devin NU . oLlt pl'ior notice וa party-line vott witl {The overwhelming majority ofCommittee Members never received DO .ןThis was by desigl el'eforc could not judge the ן and tl ,ן forlnatiol ו f ed ilו assi ו authorization to access the underlying c veracity ofChairman Nunes' claims. Due to sensitive sources and methods, DOJ provided access ,king Member (or respective designees), and limited staff ח ly to the Committee's Chair and Ra ו ol c Committee's investigation into Russia's covert campaign to influence the 2016 ןו itate t ו to faci ease ofthis ו ot authorize the broader reח r rmed publicly, it didו has con נU.S. elections.2 As DO and the נ low DO ו ic, and Chairman Nunes refllsed to a ו infonnation within Congress or to the pub חf rst time iו eוו he permitted the FBI Director to see it for t ו FBI to review his document unti osure to the Housc . 3 ו anuary 28 - 10 days afier disc נ , HPSCI's secure spaces late on Sunday FBI's Counterintelligence Investigation fonned theך t !'cI1ewals, DO} accurately il ןd subsequelן its Octobel' 2016 FlSA applicatioll al 111 gח July 31,2016, afier receivi חס Court that the FBI initiated its counterintelligence investigation infonnation , George Papadopoulos revealed os ו o took intercst in Papadopouו that individuals linked to Russia, wl _ 1at Russiaו campaign foreign policy adviser, informed him in late April 2016 t Papadopoulos's disclosure , moreover, occurred against thc backdrop ofRussia's aggrcssivc covert campaign to influence was alreu(ly monitoring. We would laLer learn in Papadopoulos's ז our elections, which the FB d assist by anonymously releasing were thousands ו plca that that the information the Russians cou ofHillary Clinton's emails . 5 e FBI's undel'l ying ו was consistcnt with tl חtatio ןtold the Court the truth. Its represel נ OO investigative record, which current and formcr senior officials later corroborated in extensive 2 _ iCIitiiT"trCS@r וifQP i UC ASSlflE I ם UCtASSIFI ••'OB8R8"';"8F8 •• Committee testimony. Christopher Steele's reporting, which he began to share with an FBI agent _ through the end of October 2016, played no rolc in launching the FBl's investigation into Russian interference and links to the Trump campaign. In fact, SteeJe's reporting did not reach the counterintelligence team investigating Russia at FBr headquarters until mid-September 2016, more than seven weeks after the FBJ opened its investigation, because the probe's existence was so closely held within the FBI ,6 By then, the FBI had Sllb-in uiries into individuals linked tQ the calnpaign foreign policy. advisor Carter Page. As Committee testimony bears out, the FBJ would have continued its investigation, incltlding formation from Steele, never applied ו ad never received il וagainst _ individuals, even if it I for a FISA warrant against Pagc, or ifthe FISC had rejected the application , 7 DOJ's FISA Application and Renewals t scrutiny and וewals received independel ן t application and subsequ<:2t rCI ו C initial warl'al ו TI II (\ (... '1ס .t George W ןו approval by fbur different federal judges, thi-ee of whom were appointed by PI'eside ~ . , .>:--~ t e.c vץ October 21 , 2016 ווס and one by President Ronald Reagan. DOJ tirst applied to the FISC ו Busl ו - v ג-for a warrant to permit the FBI to initiate electronic surveillance and physical search of Page for I-}.W f 90 days, consistent with F1SA requirements. The Court approved three renewals - in early January 2017, early April 2017, and late June 2017 - which authorized the FBI to maintain surveillance on Page until Jate September 20 J7. Senior OOJ and F81 officials appointed by the Obama and Trump Admil1istl'ations, inciuding acting Attorney General Dana 80ente and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, certified the applications with the Court. FISA was not used to spy on Trump or his campaign. As the Trump campaign and Page have f liation with the campaign months before DOJ appliedוn aJ afדacknowledged, Page ended his fO l for a warrant. DOJ, moreover, submitted the initial application less than three weeks before the . the FBI's investigation had been ongoing since the end of July 2016 ך eJection, even thougl cc and probable cause to believe Page wasן OOJ 's warrant request was based on compelJing evidel knowingly assisting clandestine Russian intelligence activities in the U.S :. ad an וPagc's Connections to RU8sian Government and Intclligence Officials: The FBI I • independent basis for investigating Page's motivations and actions during the campaign , transition, and following the inauguration. As DOJ described in detail to the Court, J)age had an extensive rccord as rump campaign. He resided in Moscow from 2004- יד pl'ior to joining the rstled business deals with Rtlssia 's statc-owned enel'gy company 3 RQRR'I;'IJ1fli/QIUI יttai • U CtASSIFI 0 _I ~ IiUl ז)N ljiiMfjilil'iוtf • Page remained on thc radar of Russian intelligence and the FBI. In 20 13, prosecutors indicted threc other Russian spies, two of whom targeted Page for recruitment.