'We are inching towards a constitutional crisis:' Local lawmakers react to Nunes Memo

SEATTLE -- A number of local lawmakers were blunt in their assessment of the Nunes Memo, a partisan missive that some Republicans say show abuses in the early stages of the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia.

"We should call this memo for what it is," said Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash., "which is a propaganda piece of information or misinformation, designed to do nothing but discredit our federal law enforcement agencies. Period. Full stop."

Heck is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, the panel that released the formerly classified memo early Friday. The release of the memo is nothing more than an intimidation tactic used by Trump, Heck said, and the committee chairman Devin Nunes to intimidate the special counsel into the Russian investigation, Robert Mueller.

But Mueller will not be intimidated, Heck said.

"It's not going to work, Bob Mueller's not going to blink, Mr. President," Heck told Q13 News.



Q13 News reached out to Washington Republican Reps. Dave Reichert and Cathy McMorris-Rodgers for an interview regarding the content of the memo. Neither responded to an interview request. Congressman Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., released the following statement regarding the memo:

“When I read the memo, I was alarmed by methods and information used to conduct surveillance of an American citizen,” said Rep. Newhouse. “I support President Trump’s decision to make the memo available to the public so that the American people can read this information themselves. Americans must be able to trust that the FISA process is above reproach. Today’s release is not about the Special Counsel’s investigation, but it is about ensuring trust that the FBI and DOJ – whose professionals conduct critical work every day to protect our country – are acting at all times with the highest level of discretion when vetting information used to conduct domestic surveillance.”


Newhouse was one of 65 members of Congress who sent a letter to the House intelligence committee, urging them to release the letter. Reichert, who is set to retire from Congress later this year, tweeted about the memo:



Heck said the timeline portrayed in the Nunes Memo is "full of inaccuracies and omissions." He hoped the House Intelligence Committee would allow the Democrat's response to the memo to be released, but didn't know if it would happen. The politics of painting the Department of Justice and FBI as partisan, Heck said, is without recent precedent.

"The release of this memo means we are inching towards a constitutional crisis," Heck said.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, also criticized the release of the memo.

"The content of the memo is ridiculous," Smith told Q13 News. "It alludes to conclusions that are not supported by the fact."

Smith said the release is due, in part, to Republicans not liking where the Russian investigation is going. He said former Trump campaign officials Michael Flynn and others have entered pleas, and the president is desperate for a win. Smith said some Republicans are willing to trash the Department of Justice and the FBI in order to further their political interests.

"They can't change the facts, but they're trying to attack the investigators," Smith said. "And they're doing it all to protect President Trump."

The president has told allies that he believes the memo bolsters his claim that accusations of collusion between his campaign and Russian officials are false and part of a conspiracy to discredit his election.

Sen. Patty Murray was among several Democrats who sent a letter to President Trump, warning him against using the memo as a pretext to fire either Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Murray said the investigation into Trump's election shouldn't be about politics.



According to multiple reports, Trump ordered special counsel Mueller to be fired last year.