MSNBC's "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough blasted congressional Republicans Tuesday for voting to release a "false" and "misleading" classified memo that alleges FBI surveillance abuse involving the Russia probe, saying it is part of a "sleazy political purge."
"You had [Rep. Devin] Nunes', R-Calif., memo, which twists the truth and plays these crude political games with highly secret intelligence," Scarborough said, according to Raw Story. "Most of the Republicans who voted to release this controversial memo, that the Justice Department said would be extraordinarily reckless, had never even read the memo.
"And many who did read Nunes' memo say it falsely summarized a reality and is filled with all of these falsehoods and these, these misleading conclusions, all in an attempt to slur law enforcement officers, that Donald Trump — I don't know how I should say this, he's targeted them for a political purge."
Scarborough accused House Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP lawmakers of playing a "cynical game" by releasing a memo that is half-truth, at best. The memo accuses the Department of Justice and FBI of misusing their authority to get a secret surveillance order on one of Trump's former campaign aides.
Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, called the memo "a twisted and distorted lie designed to help Trump obstruct justice and get back at FBI and Justice Department officials he believes are unfairly targeting him.
"They can smear the men and women of the FBI. They can smear the professionals at the Justice Department," Scarborough raged.
"They can smear distinguished FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) judges and they can smear the entire intelligence community by extension. All to take part in a sleazy political purge that we've been seeing unfolding before our eyes, to feed the paranoid and maniacal desires of Donald Trump."
Trump is the one who ultimately decides whether to release the memo. He has five days to do so. The White House has said it wants the memo released.
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