Sensenbrenner Statement on Release of FISA Memo
“Transparency is necessary for our system of checks and balances"
Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (WI-05) released the following statement after the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence made public a previously classified memorandum about potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA):
Sensenbrenner: “Transparency is necessary for our system of checks and balances. I am glad that the American people can now read this memo for themselves. This document raises many questions and concerns about the intelligence community’s use of FISA and Congress’s oversight of those powers. As Congress continues to investigate this matter, it is important for the Executive Branch to be fully cooperative. The American people must know the facts surrounding the FBI and DOJ obtaining a FISA warrant and to what extent relevant information was purposefully withheld from FISC judges.”
He added: “I have been a leader in the debate about safeguarding the rights of Americans against surveillance abuses by the government. While I am confident in the overwhelming majority of law enforcement agents, we must remain vigilant in protecting the privacy rights of Americans.”
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
Recent Press Releases by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner
Take a hint from your co-workers, retire.
The Wisconsin Republican clown show continues
Enough with these sycophantic, svheming Trump Toadies.
Dump Sensenbrenner 2018!
Without getting into the realm of personal criticism, it would be difficult to find any area where James Sensenbrenner has been “a leader.” That being said, his sad attempt to find respectability and navigate that slice of land just to the other side of Trump, Nunes and the rest of the Republican extremists won’t wash. At this stage, either you are in the sewer with them, or you are not.
Let’s take “transparency,” suddenly a new Republican favorite. Does Sensenbrenner favor transparency in dealing with the 2,000 and counting lies that Trump has told in the past year? how about transparency with regard to Trump’s tax returns, which will almost certainly reveal a tax cheat and someone involved in a whole range of either unsavory or criminal activities, most notably money laundering? How about transparency about the gutting of federal agencies and the rampant self-dealing that this administration is engaged in? Or how about transparency about how Trump and the family are using the presidency to further enrich themselves? How about transparency regarding how the tax law was written and by whom?
The famous Republican “memo” is based on an interesting premise. It is that the also famous (“notorious” if you watch Fox Nesws) Steele “dossier” is an anti-Trump document prepared by a biased (another new favorite Republican word) investigator who was anti-Trump. What if that is, in fact, true because of the reality that what Steele found was so damning that the thought that a pathologically lying, criminal, compromised by the Russians sexual predator was the nominee of of the party of family values shocked him? and Steele feared the consequences for America and the world if Trump were somehow elected? Isn’t that why he went to the FBI?
If you are not James Sensenbrenner, the rest of the Republican Party, part of the far-right dark money network, or one of the 30%, those fears have all been borne out in the past year.
Finally, Sensbrenner brings out that old Republican favorite, “the American people.” His constituents, the white, upper income, suburban, conservative to right wing residents of his district are definitely American people. But they are most assuredly not “THE American people.” There are lots of others out there who don’t look or think like his constituents. They are also American people. Those American people also favor transparency, and they are also appalled at what the Republican Party and its leader Donald Trump have done to this country.