Rep. Matt Gaetz appeared on FNC’s ‘America’s Newsroom’ Friday morning to discuss the effort to release a Top Secret memo which allegedly details abuse of FISA surveillance during the Obama administration. Gaetz also told Sean Hannity Thursday night that if it comes out: “I believe people will go to jail.”
Fox News contributor Sara Carter reported Thursday that the memo shows “extensive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse.”
By Friday morning, #ReleaseTheMemo had gone viral on Twitter, calling on lawmakers to make it public. Sara Carter also reports that an unnamed congressional member told her “we probably will get this stuff released by the end of the month.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t get into the specific details of this Top Secret document,” Gaetz said on Fox News Friday morning. “I think there are people who could face criminal consequences as a result of the activities laid out in this memo. It’s easy to see after reading this memo why Senator Grassley and why Senator Graham wanted to refer this matter for criminal prosecution. Laws were broken.”
Gaetz also issued a statement on his congressional website: “The House must immediately make public the memo prepared by the Intelligence Committee regarding the FBI and the Department of Justice. The facts contained in this memo are jaw-dropping and demand full transparency. There is no higher priority than the release of this information to preserve our democracy.”
REP. MATT GAETZ: Our republic is in jeopardy if we allow this type of a palace coup environment to continue to persist and that’s why I’m one of the members of Congress who will be encouraging today Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes to release the memo. We can have a vote in the Intelligence Committee, a vote in the full House of Representatives.
This is a matter of such importance that I think we need to do it immediately…
Unfortunately, I can’t get into the specific details of this Top Secret document, but that is why we have to release it. I don’t think it is appropriate for just members of Congress to be horrified by the activities that were undertaken during this endeavor.
If we get this memo into the public square, heads are going to roll at the FBI and the Department of Justice. There is no way everyone keeps their job…
We can never live in a country where this type of thing happens. And particularly, the authentication processes that are laid out in the memo are of such fiction –they are so laughable– that they would never withstand scrutiny from the public.
What I’m worried about is that the cast of characters identified in the memo are not a group of people that are gone. Many of these people are still in our government. They still wield influence. And that’s why we’ve got to get this information out into the public…
I think there are people who could face criminal consequences as a result of the activities laid out in this memo. It’s easy to see after reading this memo why Senator Grassley and why Senator Graham wanted to refer this matter for criminal prosecution. Laws were broken…
I have every confidence after speaking with Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes that after we go through the right procedures and provide the adequate notifications to the executive branch that we will release this memo. We need the public to continue to call for it.
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