Wiretapping of u. S. Citizens is iscussed by joshua geltz good morning, this is friday, february 2. Even though the house and senate are not in legislative session today, it could turn out to be a very significant day here in washington. As you have probably heard, the president is poised to possibly approve the release today of a classified memo that the republicans alleged shows improper surveillance of one of the president s armor campaign aides. President s former campaign aides. We want to get your thoughts on what is being called the release of the nunez memo. If you agree with the release of the house intelligence memo, call this number 202 7488000. If you disagree, 202 7488001 is your number to call. And you can also weigh in on social media. You can comment on twitter, or on facebook. We will start things off with billy house, the Congressional Correspondent bloomberg news. You this from the top, if could. Explain for our viewers what this memo is all about and why it has become so controversial. Guest the memo is a fourpage document based on classified material that only a few member of Congress Members of congress had seen. It was drafted by devin nunes, the chair of the house Intelligence Committee, and purports to display surveillance abuses by the fbi early on in the russian probe last year. Emma kratz have said it is full of errors, the fbi says it is fullave said of errors, the fbi says it is an accurate, and the president has decided to allow wide release to the public of its contents. Just a few minutes ago, the is ent tweeted that he rankandfile, the fbi are great people, but the top leadership of the Justice Department and the fbi have abused the sacred investigative process politicized is his word. Be a this is supposed to big day potentially. What are you looking for . Guest that is where we come into a very obscure rule called house rule x, which has never before been carried out. That will dictate how this is released. Unfortunately, nobody knows what the rule is. The white house can simply release the memo with fully the way it was written. They can send it back to devin nunes and his committee, and they can decide when to release it perhaps today and some say it has to go before the house. This was dabbled in, but members are not really there, and it could be read into the congressional record and then released. We are not sure which one of those is going to happen, if any, but the betting money is that the white house will simply just release it sometime. Host you can watch the session that is brief, in fact, and we expect that to be. It is 4 30 p. M. , here live on the span. Cspan. Take us to the other side of the aisle. A piece in bloombergs a democrats believe republicans secretly altered this fbi russia memo. Speak to that, and then to the fact that they have their own memo that is currently not being released. The first point, two nights ago, adam schiff, the top democrat on the house Intelligence Committee, with Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumers backing, issued a statement and a letter he had sent to devin nunes, complaining about changes that have been made to this fourpage memo after his committee had approved it and sent it to the white house, which schiff said was against all recalled. Spokesperson says those were grammatical changes requested by the fbi, so that shows the back and forth going on right now. , with his staff, has written his own response to the republican memo, which he purportedly shows how it is in error, with exaggerations and omissions, but republicans are saying it has to go through the same screening and vetting process as the other memo did. Host can you describe the scope of feedback so far on the senate side . Guest lets keep in mind, unlike rank and file house members who have to be able to read the memo, senators, including chairman of the judiciary and intelligence been. Tee, have not senator burr, who is nunes opposite on the Senate IntelligenceCommittee Says whatever classified information he based this memo on, he will use this and included as part of a larger report from the Committee Later this year. So from that statement, you get an idea that the senators think this stuff should be part of a larger report and not troubled democratsbbled out as are alleging, to perhaps undermine the underpinnings of special counsel Robert Muellers russia investigation. Host and as we wrap this up, billy house, lets put this into a broader context of the debate and the push and pull in washington. What does all of this mean . Guest i think in the long run, it will mean that we are on the ageipice here of kind of an where the Law Enforcement community is being undermined by cast onident, and doubt ity,or rapsody, verac its fairness, and the relationship of the branches of government are being frayed, even within the executive branch. Whether this has longlasting damage, we will wait and see, but now republicans are attacking Law Enforcement, and democrats are standing up for them, which is a role reversal. Host billy house, thank you for joining us. Guest sure. To yourfore we get calls, President Trump spoke briefly about Law Enforcement at the gop retreat yesterday in West Virginia. Take a look. [video clip] President Trump the priorities of the Republican Congress are the priorities of American People. We believe in Strong Families and we believe in strong borders. [applause] President Trump we believe in the rule of law, and we support the men and women of Law Enforcement. [applause] host the president also tweeted this morning, as our guest billy house mentioned. Here is what he wrote a short while ago. The top leadership and investigators of the fbi and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of democrats and against republicans, something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank and file are great people. To more point before we get the phone calls. The New York Times talks about the republican plot against the fbi. They write this is what a partisan witchhunt really looks like. In a demonstration of unbridled selfinterest, the white house and the republican minions in congress are on the cusp of releasing a memo that reports to document the biggest political scandal since watergate. To pull it off, they are undermining the credibility of the Law Enforcement community that republicans once defended so ardently, on the noble sounding claim that American Public must know the truth. Dont fall for it. Our first call is from new jersey. What do you think . Caller good morning. I think i am very disappointed that the three branches of government are being compromised , and they are not able to do their separate tasks. There seems to be some connection in my mind between the concerted attacks on the fbi and doj, especially by mr. Gowdy , who has decided to step down from his position, conveniently at a time when there is a possibility that there may be some vacancies at the top of the. Eadership of the fbi or doj i am very concerned about that, and i hope people are watching what is going on in our Nations CapitalNations Capital, and maybe something can be done in terms of people looking at the larger picture. We have three branches of government so we can have some checks and balances. Host thank you for calling, yolande. New york, good morning to you. Caller yes. I disagree with the caller. The department of justice and the fbi are very wonderful people who are doing their job, but there are also bad guys, bad actors. We solid they were saying behind and trying to undermine this person before the election and after the election. Nobody blames the Justice System, but the Justice System should also be overlooked, who is doing that, the checking the balance of this system . For me, i do not understand this argument that this has a national implication, National Security. There is no one to convince me that this has to do with other internationals and security concerns. No, this is a local issue. The government, the checks and balance is gone. Someone has to check it out, and we have to be informed. We cannot judge things. We do not know anything. I can tell you that. Our administration uses the Justice System wrongly, there are some things that are showing. There are some lights that show to that direction. Me,e, i am not going for i am not going to say this is complicit with the president and his party to undermine the fbi. There are bad guys, and they have to be rooted out and we have to know the truth. Host thank you for calling. Frances townsend, the former security adviser to george w. Bush, tweeted this as well. Expects the fbi memo to be released today with you, with few, if any reductions as early as today over the directors objections. Linda, good morning. What do you think about this . Caller i have been watching this closely, really since the inauguration last year, and it is a horrible, horrible stuff that is going on. I think russia is getting what they want, having made us divisive against each other and with trump at the head of it. He is their boy. I am just disgusted, really. I really thought when he got because he scared me has been a nasty person his whole life. He does not care about anyone but himself, and i have been following him for years, ever since the divorces and all of this, seeing what he has done with his life. I thought there were checks and balances, like the former caller was talking about, that would stop him from doing anything to insane. Insane. What i am learning now is that president s seem to have too much power. I did not know they could fire the head of the fbi. I did not know he could get away with as many things as he has gotten away with. President s before had the sense to not do insane things like that. We will have to instill some new laws, like you cannot even run for president unless you release your taxes, and somebody gets to decide that just him gets to declassify things i am making a list of the new laws that should be put in place if we ever get another insane president like this man, this nasty person i am so embarrassed by. Host moving on to jack in buckeye, arizona. Good morning. Caller good morning, thank you for taking the call. What we are going to see in this is it is going to come out that this goes clear back to, if we did. Ber, what obama are you still there . Host we are, keep going. Caller the day before he gave up office, when he released all the intel. The reason i bring that up is because we go clear back to win all of this started, with the dossier. This all thing. Getting to the bottom line, this goes right to the truth. We are getting to the truth. This is why so many people are involved in this, because once the truth comes out it is going to be turned around to the point where what this comes down to is how far left they went to try to keep this man from becoming the president of the United States. We are talking about power, and that is it, the bottom line. That is what happened, and the truth will, out. Host the truth will come out. Host lots of voices out there, including the fbis association. The Fbi Agents Association. They put out a statement, saying Fbi Agents Association appreciates fbi director chris wray Standing Shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the fbi as we Work Together to protect our country from criminal and National Security threats. As director ray noted, fbi special agents i remain steadfast in their dedication to professionalism, and we remain focused on our important work to protect the country from criminals and terrorists, both to mess to investigate international. Special agents take a column of to our country and to the constitution, and the American Public continues to be well served by the worlds preeminent Law Enforcement agency. Nikki haley was also at the gop retreat, and a couple of colors were talking about russia. Here is what she had to say about russia yesterday. [video clip] there is one thing we need to be clear about russia is not our friend. [applause] there may be some things we can work with them on, and we should do that when we can, but russia is not, will not be our friend as long as their government has the values that it has, and as long as it conducts itself the way it does internationally. Russia is the defender of a brutal regime in syria, aiding and abetting atrocities against syrian civilians and vetoing every effort at the u. N. To hold assad accountable. Russia has an increasingly close alliance with iran, and protects iran against more vigorous. Uclear inspections russia continues to illegally occupy ukrainian territory. In our own hemisphere, russia is the defender and bank roller of roe corrupt and lawless madu regime in venezuela. And yes, russia did meddle in our elections. That is not a controversial statement. Russia has been meddling in elections for many years. They have done it in european elections just last year. There is no reason to think that the russian interference made any difference between who won and lost in the u. S. Election, but the very fact that they did , and an outrageous thing something be a minister nation is taking steps to prevent in the future. The administration is taking steps to prevent in the future. But with all the talk about russia and its role in our elections, one huge fact has been massively overlooked. That fact is, in the last year, this administration has been tougher on russia than any American Administration since ronald reagan. The Washington Post writes this on its editorial page a process that tarnishes the house. They say in all the noise around the memo, it is easy to lose sight of the scary truth that a hostile Foreign Government attempted to influence the 2016 election and shows every intention of trying to do it again this year. You would think mr. Nunes comittee would be alarmed by this threat to american democracy. Instead, mr. Nunes, with mr. Ryans aid and comfort, is helping mr. Trump impeded an investigation into these very issues. It is said to see this week or the house to be tarnished in this way. Lets go to vincent in florida. Caller hello . Host you are on the air, sir. Caller [inaudible] line, if the people understand what is the story, they will understand what is going on. [inaudible] was why the rush of its was why the russians reached in, even before the election, before everything. [inaudible] so it is before the election. If we talk about losing carter page to get rid of the ruler and they get the director of the fbi, [inaudible] and they know about mr. Page, but the thing is itll started it all started a long time ago, 2015. Host ok. Tyrone is on the line now, good morning. Caller good morning. Continue should i think there are too many people in the Republican Party that are stuck on this mantra of destroying the federal government. This memo has the insinuation of what steve bannon said, deconstructing the admin straight of state. People continue to go down this path, you tear down administrative state. People continue to go down this path, you tear down everything involving the United States government and they cannot contact we protect we the people. Steve bannon wanted to make the government small enough to drown it in a bathtub. Reagan said the most terrifying words in the dictionary are we are from the government, and we are here to help. The Republican Party, not all of them, have shown they have a disdain for the government, and this is the path they are going down. Host rob is calling from new york. Good morning. Caller good morning, john. I love this show. Everyone is making such a big deal out of this nunes memo, but the initial five the documents have been out fisa documents have been out for a week, and they have the initial documents sent by the whistleblower. It is even worse than what that documents are going that document is going to tell us. Whoever is in power is going to get attacked by the other side. It is how politics works in this rotten twoparty system we have. Colin, college park, maryland. What do you think. Iller i support this, and think it is a good idea, because i think the government needs to be more transparent. But i also want to know what people have to say about Chelsea Manning running in maryland for senate, because with her history of transparency. Host ok, thank you for calling. Some of our Facebook Comments this morning. Ae says who cares, it is partisan memo written by the party of lies. It will be written by the ignorant read by the truth, and the rest of us will see right through it, like we do trump. Let the little guy have his fun trying to undermine the government, it is cute. [video clip] is difficult to say what the consequence is. We know the department of justice and the fbi feel this is an extraordinarily reckless step to take, because the information has not been able to be vetted and they have not been able to do an analysis on the impact and what the sources are. While than analysis is supposed