To the editor: FBI criticism is bogus

3/6/2018

The Blade’s March 1 editorial, “Out of order”, uses several bogus premises to draw equally bogus conclusions regarding the FBI’s obtaining of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) warrant against Carter Page, a former Trump adviser.

EDITORIAL: 'Democratic memo' fails to exonerate FBI

To begin with, former FBI Director James Comey never said the whole Steele dossier was “salacious and unverified.” In his Senate testimony, Mr. Comey referred only to one paragraph of the 35-page document. He refused to comment in public on the rest of the material. And contrary to the editorial, the dossier is hardly “sleazy.” It is well-sourced and professionally written.

The editorial further states that the dossier “was the primary basis for the warrant.” In fact, the other evidence supplied for the warrant was redacted from the Democrats’ memo and has not been made public. So unless The Blade’s editorial writer has either a top-security clearance or ESP, how could he know what the “primary source” was?

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The editorial also implies the “snooping” on the Trump campaign was “justified” by the FBI’s interest in Mr. Page. In fact, the investigation began with revelations about another Trump aide, George Papadopoulos, in July, 2016.

Finally, the editorial states that “the top echelon of the FBI was highly politicized.” When the FISA warrant was obtained in October, 2016, James Comey was the FBI director. He is a Republican.

PHILLIP TEITLEBAUM
Forest Hill Court

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