The GOP Surveillance Memo: What You Need To Know

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower, while the VIX trended higher Friday as investors grew concerned about rising interest rates and a couple of underwhelming tech earnings reports.

Amid the selloff, House Republicans released a declassified intelligence memo alleging abuses of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s surveillance authority.

The report questions the legitimacy of interactions between the Department of Justice, FBI and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and it accuses the FBI of an anti-Donald Trump bias fueling the probe into Russia’s presidential election influence.

The document alleges investigators secured a warrant to spy on a Trump campaign aid using a dossier funded by Trump’s political opponent.

The impact of the memo has been vast in spite of the relatively innocuous content, according to former FBI director James Comey.

That’s it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs.

— James Comey (@Comey) February 2, 2018

What’s Next

Earlier this week, the FBI warned that the memo may exclude critical details diminishing the report’s overall veracity.

Democrats objected to its release and content, asserting it could be misused to justify the termination of Special Counsel Robert Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

What Congress chooses to do with the controversial information is yet to be seen, although one Republican has suggested the probe will continue.

“As I have said repeatedly, I also remain 100 percent confident in Special Counsel Robert Mueller,” House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy tweeted Friday. “The contents of this memo do not - in any way - discredit his investigation.”

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