U.S. Department of Justice
The Honorable Devin Nunes
Chairman
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Recent news reports indicate a classified memorandum prepared by House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI or Committee) staff alleges abuses at the Department
of Justice (Department) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the FISA process. We understand many members of the House of Representatives have viewed this memorandum and that it has raised concerns.
As you know, we have provided HPSCI with more than 1,000 pages of classified documents relating to the FBI‘s relationship, if any, with a source and its reliance, if any, on information provided by that source. Media reports indicate that the Committee‘s memorandum contains highly classified material confidentially provided by the Department to the Committee in a secure facility.[1]
The Department takes any allegation abuse of our justice system by Department employees seriously. Further, we assume that HPSCI members want to provide evidence of any specific allegation of misconduct to Department officials so that we may take appropriate action. The rule of law depends on the confidence of the American people that our prosecutors and investigators apply the law fairly and without bias or regard for political influence. Though we
are currently unaware of any wrongdoing relating to the FISA process, we agree that any abuse of that system cannot be tolerated.
- ↑ To date, the Department has provided detailed briefings and made available to HPSCI documents requested as part of its investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election. The terms of access stipulated that review of the documents would be limited to the Chairman or his designee, the Ranking Member or his designee, and two staff members each. (Mr. Gowdy reviewed the documents for the majority. Mr. Schiff reviewed the documents for the minority.) Other committees of jurisdiction–the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and the House Committee on the Judiciary–have accepted similar procedural safeguards to protect against improper dissemination of information.
