Congressman Biggs' Statement on the Release of the FISA Abuse Memo
GILBERT, ARIZONA – Today, President Donald Trump declassified the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) memo outlining FISA abuses by the Obama administration. Congressman Andy Biggs released the following statement:
"Since I read the memo, I have been fighting to allow all Americans to have the same access to the memo as Congress. I am grateful that the President has concurred in its release to the American public. The majority of Democrats vehemently opposed the release of this memo. They have tried to prevent the American people from knowing that federal officials abused their power in order to attack a candidate for president.
"The HPSCI memo outlines how the Obama administration used government surveillance to spy on a member of an opposition party's campaign. Key Department of Justice (DOJ) officials used an unverified dossier – paid for by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign – to obtain multiple warrants. They did so without divulging the dubious origins of the Fusion GPS dossier they used to justify these warrants. Former FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were among those who approved re-occurring applications for the FISA warrants – the same two individuals who are central to the ongoing Mueller investigation.
"In fact, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has said that the FISA warrants would not have been obtained without using the fraudulent Fusion GPS dossier in support of the application for the FISA warrants. Unfortunately, some of the same people who are named in the memo, including McCabe and Rosenstein, are still employed by our government or collecting taxpayer-funded pensions. That is a great injustice.
"In light of this evidence, I am renewing my call for Robert Mueller to resign. If he does not have the integrity to resign, he should be fired. Mr Rosenstein appointed Mr. Mueller to lead the investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election. The direction of the Mueller investigation has been guided by the tainted information obtained by spying on Americans.
"This memo indicates that the Obama-era leaders of the FBI and DOJ willfully abused their power in order to spy on political opponents. It represents another piece of evidence demonstrating the former administration's propensity to exonerate criminals and to prosecute law-abiding citizens. The release of the memo is an important first step in cleaning out the people at the top of our law enforcement agencies who are doing a disservice to the great agents and employees of the FBI and DOJ. We will restore the faith of the American people in our government."
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Congressman Andy Biggs is a first-term Representative from Arizona's Fifth Congressional District, representing parts of Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, and Queen Creek. Congressman Biggs is a member of the House Judiciary and Science, Space, and Technology committees, and is the chairman of the Environment Subcommittee. He lives with his wife, Cindy, in Gilbert.