The media tried to prevent the release of the memo by falsely claiming that it was classified. Once the memo was released, it's been scrambling for a way to undermine it.
Here's the thin reed that the lynch mob is clinging to.
Republicans concede key FBI 'footnote' in Carter Page warrant - Politico
Republican leaders are acknowledging that the FBI disclosed the political origins of a private dossier the bureau cited in an application to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page
Except they didn't.
Disclosing the political origins would have meant revealing that it came from the Clinton campaign and the DNC. The FISA application never did that. The media's big get (the one that was also picked up by Never Trumpers) is that it was disclosed that the origin was political. But that was generic enough to be meaningless.
Or as Trey Gowdy put it,
“I read the footnote. I know exactly what the footnote says,” Gowdy said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “It took longer to explain it the way they did, than if they just come right out and said, ‘Hillary Clinton for America and DNC paid for it.’ But they didn’t do that.”
Most things in that arena are political.It's a meaningless statement.
So why not disclose the truth? Surely the FISA court could have been trusted with that information? If the court could know about Steele, why not about Hillary?
Specifically, why conceal it? What interests were served by hiding that information?
If the goal was to protect the source, then hiding Steele's name would have made sense. The only reason to hide the Clinton part was to protect the "legitimacy" of the dossier by preventing it from being exposed as a piece of opposition research. And to protect everyone who had gotten into the business of peddling it.
And that clearly shows how tainted the process was.
The echo chamber is still doing its thing. The Politico article and the various Never Trump pieces pushing the same agenda show how it's working. But their petty sniping overlooks the big question.
What legitimate reason was there for hiding the origins of the dossier?