FISA Memo – Summary and Analysis

For people who just want a TL;DR: In short, the DNC/Clinton campaign/Steele/FBI/DOJ colluded to fabricate evidence against Trump, and used this as evidence to illegally obtain a surveillance warrant, and renew it 3 times, that was used to surveil an American citizen, and lied to President-elect Trump regarding the nature of the dossier. 
Here’s the document: docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20180129/106822/HMTG-115-IG00-20180129-SD001.pdf
SUMMARY
“Our findings 1) raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), and 2) represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process.”
The FISA warrant application “had to be first certified by the Director [Comey] or Deputy Director [McCabe] of the FBI. It then required the approval of the Attorney General [Lynch], Deputy Attorney General (DAG) [Yates – the source of the charges against Gen. Flynn; then Boente; then Rosenstein], or the Senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division.”
The initial FISA warrant was granted on October 21, 2016, and this was then approved three times.
“Then-Director James Comey signed three FISA applications in question on behalf of the FBI, and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed one. Then-DAG Sally Yates, then-Acting DAG Dana Boente, and DAG Rod Rosenstein each signed one or more FISA applications on behalf of the DOJ.”
Key charge: “material and relevant information was omitted.”

1) The dossier, written by Steele on behalf of the DNC and Clinton campaign, formed an essential part of the FISA application.
a. Neither the application nor the renewals disclose this relationship, even though the DOJ and FBI knew it.
b. The initial application does not name Fusion GPS or Glenn Simpson, who paid Steele on behalf of the DNC, even though it was known to the DOJ. Nor does the application mention the payment to Steele, or that he was working for the DNC and Clinton campaign, or that the FBI paid him for the information.
2) The FISA application relied heavily on a Yahoo News article by Michael Isikoff. This story was based on information derived from Steele, and was used to support the validity of the dossier Steele wrote. The application says that Steele did not provide information to Yahoo News.
a. When Steele revealed in Oct 2016 that he had provided information to Isikoff, the FBI fired him.
b. Steele’s numerous encounters with the media violated the requirement of confidentiality and reliability as a source for a FISA warrant.
3) Steele maintained contact with DOJ Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, who worked closely with Yates and Rosenstein. In September 2016, prior to the application, Steele admitted to Ohr that the dossier was politically motivated. This information was known to the DOJ and FBI, but was not recorded in the FISA application.
a. During this period, Ohr’s wife was employed by Fusion GPS to assist in “the cultivation of opposition research on Trump.” This research was then given to the FBI by Ohr, and paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign. This relationship was not disclosed during the application.
4) After the FBI fired Steele, an FBI investigation proved that the dossier was “only minimally corroborated.” Yet, in January 2017, Comey briefed President Trump on the dossier and failed to reveal this. He also concealed the anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations behind the dossier. In Dec 2017, McCade testified that the warrant would not have been granted but for the dossier
5) Absolves Papadopoulos of collusion with Page.
ANALYSIS
In short, the DNC/Clinton campaign/Steele/FBI/DOJ colluded to fabricate evidence against Trump, and used this as evidence to illegally obtain a surveillance warrant, and renew it 3 times, that was used to surveil an American citizen, and lied to President-elect Trump regarding the nature of the dossier. 
More specifically,
(i) the DOJ and FBI failed to disclose the financial and ideological bias of Steele to the FISA court;
(ii) the DOJ and FBI failed to disclose the role of the DNC and Clinton campaign in funding the dossier to the FISA court;
(iii) the FBI failed to disclose to the FISA court that they were paying Steele for information;
(iv) the legitimacy of the dossier was justified with reference to a Yahoo News article, the content of which was based on information provided by the writer of that very dossier, Steele;
(v) when Steele revealed that he was the source for the Yahoo News article, which undermined the validity of the application, the FBI fired him;
(vi) Steele’s role in the article invalidated him as a confidential and reliable source, yet he remained the key source in requests to renew the warrant;
(vii) Steele revealed to the DOJ that he was anti-Trump, and the DOJ (and FBI) hid this information from the FISA court;
(viii) the wife of the implicated DOJ official, Ohr, worked in Fusion GPS and was paid by the DNC and Clinton campaign for anti-Trump information, neither of which facts were reported to the FISA court;
(ix) Comey personally lied to President-elect Trump regarding the validity of the dossier;
(x) the FISA warrant would not have been granted but for these lies.
At the very least, the following individuals should now be subject to criminal investigation:
James Comey
Andrew McCabe
Sally Yates
Dana Boente
Rod Rosenstein
Hillary Clinton
Loretta Lynch
Bruce Ohr
Nelly Ohr
Christopher Steele
Glenn Simpson
Pete Strzok
Lisa Page
Tom Perez (head of DNC)
Donna Brazile (former acting head of DNC)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (former head of DNC)
Michael Isikoff
 
h/t The Original Mind