February 24, 2018

Democratic Rebuttal to Nunes Memo Finally Released

Trump campaign advisor Carter Page during a trip to Moscow in December 2016.Korotayev Artyom/TASS via ZUMA

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A couple of weeks ago President Trump approved the release of the “Nunes memo,” which alleged FBI abuse of the FISA warrant process to get a wiretap approved on Carter Page, a Trump campaign aide. Remember that? Most people probably don’t, what with a news cycle that runs on a fruit-fly timescale these days. So now that everyone has (a) absorbed the allegations that the FBI is corrupt and (b) isn’t paying attention anymore, it’s time to release the Democratic rebuttal. And of course it will be heavily redacted, to make it really hard to read.

I’m busy with issues of crucial importance today, so I don’t have the time to spend properly on this. All part of the GOP plan! However, the full text of the Democratic memo is here. LA Times reporter Chris Megerian‏ summarizes the key points here.

The basic takeaway is that the Nunes memo was nonsense, but I think we all knew that already. Nonetheless, the damage has been done, and expertly so.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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