Article snippet: Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a controversial memo on Friday alleging that senior officials at the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) abused their powers to spy on members of MORE (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said the application for a warrant to spy on Page was the product of scores of independent investigators and that the Nunes memo “fails to provide vital context and information about that process.” Furthermore, Schiff argued that the FBI had plenty of reasons to be suspicious of Page, regardless of what was in the dossier. He said it would have been a dereliction of duty not to pursue leads into whether Page had improper contacts with Moscow. To obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant, Justice Department lawyers must show probable cause that the target of the surveillance is acting as an agent of a foreign power. Page had come under FBI scrutiny in 2013, when a Russian believed to have links to Russian intelligence mentioned him, according to The Washington Post.The FBI’s Russia investigation started with Papadopoulos Trump’s allies have long alleged that the Russia probe is politically motivated because it began with the Steele dossier, which was funded in part by MORE, a former adviser to Trump’s campaign. Papadopoulos has since pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI and is cooperating with Mueller. The New York Times has previously reported that Papadopoulos ... Link to the full article to read more