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Surveillance memo could be declassified Friday; Trump warns Dems on DACA

The FBI said Wednesday that the bureau has “grave concerns” about the classified memo that purportedly reveals government surveillance abuses, but White House Chief of Staff John Kelly says it is going public, anyway.

“With regard to the House Intelligence Committee’s memorandum, the FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it,” the FBI said in a statement. “As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

But earlier Tuesday, Kelly told Fox News in an exclusive interview the classified memo will be made public soon. Kelly said White House national security aides have been reviewing the memo.
“It'll be released here pretty quick I think and the whole world can see it,” he said.
The bureau’s claim that the memo involves “omissions of fact” came a day after a source told Fox News that two senior FBI officials reviewed the memo and “could not point to any factual inaccuracies” in the memo itself.

FBI Director Christopher Wray viewed the memo on Sunday  (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

FBI OFFICIALS REVIEW SURVEILLANCE MEMO, COULD NOT CITE 'ANY FACTUAL INACCURACIES'
The two officials – one from the bureau’s counterintelligence division and the other from the legal division – followed up after an initial review of the memo during a rare Sunday trip to Capitol Hill by FBI Director Christopher Wray.
One senior U.S. official told Fox News, though, that Wray "expressed concern about the accuracy of the memo" and told others in the meeting the memo "gives an inaccurate impression of the bureau's work on this matter."
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes reacted to the bureau’s written statement by saying: “Having stonewalled Congress’ demands for information for nearly a year, it’s no surprise to see the FBI and DOJ issue spurious objections to allowing the American people to see information related to surveillance abuses at these agencies.”

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly says the memo will be released

“The FBI is intimately familiar with ‘material omissions’ with respect to their presentations to both Congress and the courts, and they are welcome to make public, to the greatest extent possible, all the information they have on these abuses,” the California Republican said. “Regardless, it’s clear that top officials used unverified information in a court document to fuel a counter-intelligence investigation during an American political campaign.”
“Once the truth gets out, we can begin taking steps to ensure our intelligence agencies and courts are never misused like this again,” he added.
On Tuesday night, President Trump was overheard telling a GOP lawmaker at the State of the Union that he’s “100 percent” behind releasing the memo.
The House Intelligence Committee on Monday evening voted to release it, but Trump is able to object to the release. Lawmakers have said the memo details abuses involving FISA, or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. A source close to the matter said the memo details the Intelligence Committee’s oversight work for the FBI and Justice Department, including the controversy over unmasking and FISA surveillance.
TRUMP OVERHEARD SAYING HE IS ‘100 PERCENT’ BEHIND RELEASING SURVEILLANCE MEMO
“The FBI takes seriously its obligations to the FISA Court and its compliance with procedures overseen by career professionals in the Department of Justice and the FBI,” the bureau said in its statement. “We are committed to working with the appropriate oversight entities to ensure the continuing integrity of the FISA process.”

Fidel Castro's oldest son commits suicide, Cuban state media report

Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, left, the oldest son of dictator Fidel Castro, killed himself, according to Cuban state media.  (AP, File)

The oldest son of the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro committed suicide at the age of 68, Cuban state media announced on Thursday.

Fidel “Fidelito” Castro Diaz-Balart is the oldest son of Castro and his first wife, Mirta Diaz Balart.

BREAKING: Cuban state media say Fidel Castro's eldest son has killed himself.

— The Associated Press (@AP) February 2, 2018

Diaz-Balart was said to have killed himself Thursday morning after receiving months of treatment for a "deeply depressed state," according to official website Cubadebate. He reportedly "required a hospitalization regime then outpatient follow-up" as part of his treatment.
Fidel Castro died in November 2016 at age 90. His brother, Raul, took over as Cuba's leader in 2008.
Before his death, Diaz-Balart was a scientific adviser to the Council of State and was the vice president of the Cuban Academy of Sciences.
Of all Castro's offspring, only Diaz-Balart, the angel-faced, blond boy from revolution-era photographs, was publically recognized. He bore a striking resemblance to his father, which earned him the nickname Fidelito, or Little Fidel.
Diaz-Balart was born in 1949 and brought to the United States in the 1950s after his parents divorced. His mother's family had ties to the Batista government, which Castro would eventually overthrow. As a result, the former Cuban leader wanted his son kept from his ex-wife's family, leading to an ongoing custody battle over the boy.
"I refuse even to think that my son may sleep a single night under the same roof sheltering my most repulsive enemies and receive on his innocent cheeks the kisses of those miserable Judases," Castro wrote to his half-sister Lidia in 1956.
While Castro was in Mexico preparing for the guerrilla war, he convinced his ex-wife to send Fidelito to visit him for two weeks. Once the boy was there however, Castro refused to send him back. Later, while the boy was out for a walk with Castro's sisters, three armed men in a car grabbed Diaz-Balart so he could be reunited with his mother.
As an adult Diaz-Balart rose to the top post at Cuba's Atomic Energy Commission before his father removed him for unpublicized reasons in the early 1990s.

Hurt: Pelosi Consumed With Hatred for Trump, Has No Vision for Her Party

On "America's Newsroom" on Tuesday, Fox News contributor Charlie Hurt said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif) over-the-top negative reaction to President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address shows that she has been consumed with "hatred" for the president.
"Without any basis on evidence, data and the rest, he makes these statements about newcomers to our country and equating it in a criminal way. What was that about?" Pelosi said during a press conference with Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday. "It was — I wouldn't say confusing. It was worse than that. It was dangerous what he said last night."
"And it is instilled fear," she continued. "What he is doing brings tears to the eyes of the Statue of Liberty, and instills fear in the hearts of the people who are concerned about our DREAMers."
Hurt said this is just more exaggeration from Pelosi after her now-infamous "crumbs" remark about the positive effects of the Republican tax cuts.

Pelosi Twitter tear targets 'obsessed' Nunes ahead of House intel memo's imminent release

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi unleashed a Twitter storm Thursday, blanketing her social media feed with calls for the removal of U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which voted to release a contentious memo on purported surveillance abuses.

Using the hashtag #RemoveNunes, Pelosi wrote late Thursday: “RETWEET if you are concerned about @DevinNunes’ obsession with prioritizing short-term politics over America’s long-term national security!”

Underneath the post warning of Nunes’ “obsession,” which Pelosi pinned to the top of her Twitter account, were four more urgently worded posts – also made Thursday – calling for Nunes’ departure.
“@DevinNunes’ deliberately dishonest actions make him unfit to serve as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee,” she wrote Thursday. “@SpeakerRyan must immediately remove him from this position.”
Pelosi echoed that language in a letter she sent to House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday.
“Chairman Nunes’ deliberately dishonest actions make him unfit to serve as Chairman, and he must be immediately removed from this position,” Pelosi wrote in the letter.
Pelosi soon doubled down in a follow-up post on Twitter, this time employing an illustration: Nunes appears superimposed behind the words “NUNES MUST GO” in all-capital letters.
“@DevinNunes is putting our national security at risk, ignoring concerns from the FBI & DOJ to advance a conspiracy theory,” Pelosi tweeted. "RT if you know Speaker Ryan must #RemoveNunes immediately!”
Then, in the afternoon: “We have to be able to trust that the House Intel Chairman will put long-term national security before short-term politics. @DevinNunes has proven he can’t.”
Finally, Pelosi wrapped up Thursday’s anti-Nunes barrage by linking approvingly to a Washington Post editorial critical of the California Republican congressman.
The release of the House memo, which is reported to outline surveillance abuses, is likely to come Friday morning, Fox News is told.
President Donald Trump already had made clear he supports the release of the memo -- before U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, late Wednesday charged that Nunes made "material changes" to the memo since its review by committee members.