© UnknownChristopher Wray
Several Congressional sources as well as one high-level White House source said Wray pulled a surprising about-face on GOP leaders in the last 24 hours. And instead of working with the White House and the House Intelligence Committee on the Hill on the pending release of the controversial FISA memo, Wray came out Wednesday seemingly threatening the White House and President Donald Trump.
"We think somebody threatened him, got to him," one Congressional source said. "Between Tuesday and Wednesday he was a completely different guy."
A White House source said President Trump was not pleased with Wray's demeanor on Wednesday and his jockeying to try to prevent the FISA memo from being released.
"He maybe maneuvering himself out of a job," the White House source said. "The President does not need another (James) Comey across the street running the FBI."
What angered and concerned folks on the Hill?
In a rare public statement on Wednesday, the FBI said that it has "grave concerns" about a Republican-crafted memo alleging corrosive abuse of U.S. surveillance powers by the Justice Department that is expected to be released in the coming days.
"With regard to the House Intelligence Committee's memorandum, the FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it," the bureau said.
Tuesday on On SiriusXM's "Make It Plain with Mark Thompson," Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said it could be "treasonous" to release the memo the House Intelligence Committee voted to release on Monday.
Booker said, "This fury and fire that has been created within the right around this, is to me tantamount to a dangerous conspiracy theory that can undermine the important work our Justice Department and intelligence communities do."
The White House plans to release a classified House Intelligence Committee memo that Republicans say shows anti-Trump bias by the FBI and the Justice Department, U.S. President Donald Trump's chief of staff John Kelly said on Wednesday.
"It will be released here pretty quick, I think, and then the whole world can see it," Kelly said in an interview on Fox News Radio, adding that he has seen the four-page document and that White House lawyers are currently reviewing it.
Did President Donald Trump just pledge to release the controversial FISA memo?
Sure seems that way.
Comment: Finally! House Intel Committee releases 'the memo' - here's what it says
In other words, the memo confirms what we already knew. The dossier was the basis of the FISA spying, and the DOJ/FBI misrepresented their "intelligence" in order to get that spying set in motion. Kind of puts the Dems' fears about "national security" and "rule of law" in perspective, doesn't it?
That was a lot of hype for so little information. Which makes us wonder why the Dems, FBI and DOJ were so adamant that it not be released. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the only sources sharing the information that was later included in the memo were right-wing sources. By making such a big deal about the "secret memo", the MSM is forced to cover it.
His private comments were caught on video during the State of the Union Address.
Comment: See also: