# Can someone break down this whole Nunes Memo thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 23, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308 "2018-01-23T16:50:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/21 "2018-01-23T19:54:35Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > _“I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.”_ - Joseph McCarthy _“There are exactly 57 card-carrying members of the Communist Party in the Department of Defense at this time!”_ - Senator John Yerkes Iselin ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/22 "2018-01-23T20:01:24Z")
It’s also generally believed that the memo alleges politicization of FISA, but of course Nunes announced the memo just days after voting to renew FISA without any significant oversight changes. That seems like decent evidence that he doesn’t give the evidence in it much credence either. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/23 "2018-01-23T20:01:43Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > What’s the reasoning behind “I have a memo, but I’m not gonna show it to you”? The same reason you don’t show the monster in a horror film. What people imagine is always scarier than the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/24 "2018-01-23T20:55:51Z")
I think is is to be released once it has been transcribed from the original crayon. ---
**Author:** ![BeenJammin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beenjammin/32/448_2.png) [@BeenJammin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeenJammin)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/25 "2018-01-23T23:54:16Z")
It takes time to get the classified redactions approved. References to the source material (which is really what this is all about) are probably extremely sensitive. …and/or the downgrade to whatever level they decide to “release” it at, depending on exactly who the recipients are. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/26 "2018-01-23T23:54:23Z")
In order to discredit the FBI and Robert Mueller, Nunes and some republicans wrote a memo saying that the FBI is corrupt and Obama spied. The GOP controls congress. They can release their memo that they wrote anytime they want. They also refuse to share the memo with the justice department, since it isn’t a valid investigation. It is a talking point designed to make the public not trust law enforcement. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/27 "2018-01-24T00:03:33Z")
I think elucidator said it best: "The FBI is in cahoots with a plot to bring down a right-wing authoritarian administration. You can take me now, Lord. Seen it all." ---
**Author:** ![BeenJammin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beenjammin/32/448_2.png) [@BeenJammin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeenJammin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/28 "2018-01-24T00:06:21Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > It is a talking point designed to make the public not trust law enforcement. That’s a rather odd hypothesis, considering Trump ran as the “law-and-order” candidate, now with all the immigration enforcement and illicit drug crackdowns. ---
**Author:** ![BeenJammin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beenjammin/32/448_2.png) [@BeenJammin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeenJammin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/29 "2018-01-24T00:08:23Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > The FBI is in cahoots with a plot to bring down a right-wing authoritarian administration. Fixed it for ya: 😉 The FBI is in cahoots with a plot to **prevent** a right-wing authoritarian administration.[ ---
**Author:** ![BeenJammin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beenjammin/32/448_2.png) [@BeenJammin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeenJammin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/30 "2018-01-24T00:10:04Z")
They should just have it turn up on a DNC email server and be done with it. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/31 "2018-01-24T00:11:07Z")
> [@BeenJammin](#): > > That’s a rather odd hypothesis, considering Trump ran as the “law-and-order” candidate, now with all the immigration enforcement and illicit drug crackdowns. When the right talks about ‘law and order’ it is a dog whistle for letting the police corral and brutalize scary non-whites. It has nothing to do with actual law and order (Trump is possibly the most criminal president we’ve ever had). ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/32 "2018-01-24T00:54:06Z")
> [@BeenJammin](#): > > That’s a rather odd hypothesis, considering Trump ran as the “law-and-order” candidate, now with all the immigration enforcement and illicit drug crackdowns. Of course Trump supports police when they go after brown and black people. He just doesn’t like them when they go after white collar criminals (emphasis on the “white”). ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/33 "2018-01-24T01:44:40Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > It’s also generally believed that the memo alleges politicization of FISA, but of course Nunes announced the memo just days after voting to renew FISA without any significant oversight changes. That seems like decent evidence that he doesn’t give the evidence in it much credence either. I don’t think Nunes had seen the memo when the FISA vote happened. Here’s what I posted in another thread on the subject …My theory is completely different. I think Trump went ballistic when the House Intelligence Committee summoned Hope Hicks for an interview. I think this action crossed a Trumpian “red line”. And I think Trump set his sights on his toady Nunes. Nunes, desperately trying to appease Trump, agreed to all his demands. The interview with Hicks was postponed. But I think the White House also gave him this memo and demanded that he put his name on it Kind of a replay of what happened last year. But these people don’t learn. This is Stupid Watergate. And I think once it’s released, it will become blindingly obvious who wrote the memo. My guess is Steven Miller. And my guess is he didn’t make any attempt to alter his style and that he used the same phrases and rhetoric that were found in the other memos and speeches he’s written. And the press will realize this and it will be a scandal for about 2 days until someone does something even dumber. Because this is Stupid Watergate… And I just want to add, these unmasking scandals are stupid. Because unmasking happens all the time, it’s pretty routine and it happens at a much lower level than Obama or even Susan Rice. Do you think if an American was caught on tape making unscrupulous deals with a foreign national that the agents would let that slide? Of course, they’re going to find out who it is. It’s SOP. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/34 "2018-01-24T02:09:21Z")
> [@BeenJammin](#): > > Fixed it for ya: 😉 > > The FBI is in cahoots with a plot to **prevent** a right-wing authoritarian administration.[ That train left the station a year ago. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/35 "2018-01-24T02:17:23Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I don’t think Nunes had seen the memo when the FISA vote happened. Here’s what I posted in another thread on the subject > > …My theory is completely different. I think Trump went ballistic when the House Intelligence Committee summoned Hope Hicks for an interview. I think this action crossed a Trumpian “red line”. And I think Trump set his sights on his toady Nunes. > > Nunes, desperately trying to appease Trump, agreed to all his demands. The interview with Hicks was postponed. But I think the White House also gave him this memo and demanded that he put his name on it > Kind of a replay of what happened last year. But these people don’t learn. This is Stupid Watergate. > > And I think once it’s released, it will become blindingly obvious who wrote the memo. My guess is Steven Miller. And my guess is he didn’t make any attempt to alter his style and that he used the same phrases and rhetoric that were found in the other memos and speeches he’s written. > > And the press will realize this and it will be a scandal for about 2 days until someone does something even dumber. Because this is Stupid Watergate… > > And I just want to add, these unmasking scandals are stupid. Because unmasking happens all the time, it’s pretty routine and it happens at a much lower level than Obama or even Susan Rice. Do you think if an American was caught on tape making unscrupulous deals with a foreign national that the agents would let that slide? Of course, they’re going to find out who it is. It’s SOP. It is possible, though I just read one report saying that Nunes’ staff prepared it. And, more importantly, so long as Nunes **says** that he wrote it, the fact that he voted for 702 is a pretty useful metric to hold against the believability of the memo. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/36 "2018-01-24T02:32:08Z")
> [@BeenJammin](#): > > We already know Clinton’s lawyers paid for the Russian intel dossier. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your POV, money usually leaves a fairly distinct trail. Am I missing something here or is paying for oppo research illegal and I don’t know it? Seems to me that if you’re paying for something that you’d _want_ it to be true. I mean, anybody can just make shit up, am I right? ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/37 "2018-01-24T02:43:42Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Am I missing something here or is paying for oppo research illegal and I don’t know it? I think the White House theory is that Hillary got information from someone who got it from someone that ultimately got it from some Russians so that’s THREE times as much collusion as getting info directly from the Russians would be. But the last one isn’t collusion at all. Just talking .Maybe about adoptions. or something. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/38 "2018-01-24T02:46:13Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Am I missing something here or is paying for oppo research illegal and I don’t know it? Seems to me that if you’re paying for something that you’d _want_ it to be true. I mean, anybody can just make shit up, am I right? There is nothing wrong with contracting and paying for opposition research. It’s commonly done. What is illegal is when you _use_ the fruits of your opposition research that flow from illegal sources and/or solicit illegal acts to further your own objectives. There’s a massive difference between discovering illegal activity as a result of your oppo research, which you then refer to the FBI for appropriate action, v. accepting information that is offered from a foreign source with the exclamation, “I love it!” and then using this illegally-obtained information to subvert an election in your favor. And you’ve squarely put your thumb on the Steele dossier dealio. The issue isn’t what the dossier alleges. The issue is how much of it is true. As it turns out based on independent investigation of the FBI, looks like a lot of it is true. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/39 "2018-01-24T16:54:28Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > So Nunes et. al. wrote a memo, and then said “I have a memo!” So, why wouldn’t he just present the memo to the world? What’s the reasoning behind “I have a memo, but I’m not gonna show it to you”? “I know something you don’t know…” Just like kids on a kindergarten playground. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308/40 "2018-01-24T17:27:46Z")
> [@BeenJammin](#): > > That’s a rather odd hypothesis, considering Trump ran as the “law-and-order” candidate, now with all the immigration enforcement and illicit drug crackdowns. He also ran as a guy that was going to have Mexico fund a giant wall. He’s sometimes hard to trust. As far as the memo goes, I don’t care what a bunch of Republicans determined by themselves in an “investigation”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-break-down-this-whole-nunes-memo-thing/807308.md?page=3)