#ReleaseTheMemo
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About
#ReleaseTheMemo is a Twitter hashtag used on the social networking site to demand the release of a four-page memo delivered to the House Intelligence Committee regarding wiretapping allegations against Donald Trump.
Origin
On January 18th, 2018, the United States House Intelligence Committee voted to allow House members to view a four-page classified memo alleging abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance laws in relation to a research dossier on Donald Trump's ties to Russia. That day, Republican Senator Steve King of Iowa tweeted that he had read the memo, claiming that it was "worse than Watergate" along with the hashtag "#ReleaseTheMemo" (shown below).[2] Within four days, the tweet received more than 67,000 likes and 45,800 replies.
Spread
That same evening, Republican Congressman Mark Meadows of North Carolina posted a video of himself speaking on the House floor, along with the hashtag "#ReleaseTheMemo," which gained over 67,500 likes and 47,700 retweets (shown below).
I viewed the classified report from House Intel relating to the FBI, FISA abuses, the infamous Russian dossier, and so-called "Russian collusion." What I saw is absolutely shocking.
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) January 19, 2018
This report needs to be released--now. Americans deserve the truth. #ReleaseTheMemo pic.twitter.com/oP2UNujKQL
Also on January 18th, the official Wikileaks Twitter[6] account posted a $1 million bounty for access to the memo (shown below).
On January 19th, journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted that those posting the "#ReleaseTheMemo" tweet should be directing their outrage toward Trump and the GOP for not declassifying the documents or revealing it "on the floor" (shown below). That day, the Associated Press[5] reported that "Russian networks" were pushing the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag.
#FindTheTexts
On January 20th, Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin released a letter claiming knowledge that the FBI could not locate text message correspondences between senior counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and FBI Lawyer Lisa Page ranging from December 14th, 2016 to May 17th, 2017. The following day, Sean Hannity posted a tweet with the hashtags "#ReleaseTheMemo" and "#FindTheTexts" (shown below).[3]
Memo Release
On February 2nd, 2018, the four-page House Intelligence committee memo was released unredacted, which alleged abuse by the Justice Department and the FBI for surveillance of Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page (shown below).[8]
That day, Fox Business broadcast Trump's reaction to the memo's release, saying "I think it's a disagrace what's happening in our country" (shown below).
That day, "mega threads" about the memo were stickied on the front page of the /r/politics[9] and /r/The_Donald[10] subreddits.
Also on February 2nd, former FBI Director James Comey posted a reaction to the memo, referring to it as "dishonest and misleading" (shown below).[7]
Democrat Rebuttal
On February 24th, the House Intelligence Committee released a rebuttal to the Republican claims found in the meme. Representative Adam Schiff penned the memo, hoping to clarify, contradict and contextualize some of the elements missing from Nunes' memo.[11]
That day, Julian Sanchez, an expert on surveillance at the Cato Institute,[12] tweeted,[13] "First pass thoughts on the Dem response memo: This is a pretty thorough demolition of Nunes’ insinuations of impropriety by FBI/DOJ, which were pretty weak as it stands. Also clarifies that Steele’s reporting re: Page was eventually corroborated." The post (shown below) received more than 630 retweets and 1,600 likes.
The New York Times[13] posted "5 Takeaways From the Release of the Democratic Memo." Those takeaways included:
* The F.B.I. used only a small part of the information provided by Mr. Steele.
* The surveillance court knew that Mr. Steele’s clients had a political motive.
* The Yahoo News article was not used to corroborate Mr. Steele.
* Republican-appointed judges approved the surveillance of Mr. Page.
* The wiretap of Mr. Page generated useful intelligence.
That day, President Trump tweeted,[15] "The Democrat memo response on government surveillance abuses is a total political and legal BUST. Just confirms all of the terrible things that were done. SO ILLEGAL!" The post (shown below, left) received more than 20,000 retweets and 81,000 likes.
Later that day, Trump continued,[16] "The Democrat memo response on government surveillance abuses is a total political and legal BUST. Just confirms all of the terrible things that were done. SO ILLEGAL!" The post (shown below, center) received more than 20,000 retweets and 81,000 likes.
Representative Schiff responded to the president that day. He said, "Wrong again, Mr. President. It confirms the FBI acted appropriately and that Russian agents approached two of your advisors, and informed your campaign that Russia was prepared to help you by disseminating stolen Clinton emails." The post (shown below, right) received more than 27,000 retweets and 65,000 likes.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Scribd – Senator Ron Johnson Letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray
[2] Twitter – @SteveKingIA
[3] Twitter – @seanhannity
[4] Twitter – @ggreenwald
[5] AP – Russian networks pushing conservative meme researchers say
[6] Twitter – @wikileaks
[9] Reddit – /r/politics
[10] Reddit – /r/the_donald
[11] CNN – Read the Democratic memo here
[12] Vox – The Democratic rebuttal to the Nunes memo tears it apart
[13] Twitter – @normative's Tweet
[14] New York Times – 5 Takeaways From the Release of the Democratic Memo
[15] Twitter – @realDonaldTrump's Tweet
[16] Twitter – @realDonaldTrump's Tweet
[17] Twitter – @RepAdamSchiff's Tweet
