GOP as FISA Facilitators

"I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos."
--Sir Thomas More (A Man for All Seasons)

The aforementioned House Intelligence Committee memo was finally released on Friday. Despite comedic attempts by Democrats to portray it as illegal, obstructionist, misleading, much ado about nothing, etc, the memo brings to light abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Security Act (FISA) by the Dept of Justice and FBI w.r.t. the Trump 'Russian collusion' investigation. Whether officials in these agencies are brought up on charges remains to be seen.

Republicans are not innocent in this process, however. As Thomas Massie's question implies (and as Judge Nap previously observed), the fact that the GOP-led House Intelligence Committee delayed the memo's release until after the FISA expansion vote implicates them in preserving this statist institution.

My question: who made the decision to withhold evidence of FISA abuse until after Congress voted to renew FISA program?

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) February 2, 2018

The fact is that it is the mere presence of the FISA institution that invites abuse. Anyone who has voted for it or supports it is complicit in the wrongdoing. FISA supporters include many Republicans.

The newly released memo outlines only one example. There are surely other instances of abuse that have yet to see the light of day. And such abuses will surely continue as long as FISA is on the books.

If Republicans are truly outraged at the improprieties sketched by the 'memo,' then they will reverse FISA legislation and toss it onto the scrap heap of history. Anything less implicates them in this and all other FISA abuse episodes.