The Justice Department has released more details on the marching orders delivered Aug. 2, 2017 to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, unmasking four names, including Carter Page, George Papadopolous, Paul Manafort, and Gen. Mike Flynn.
The previously classified memo from then-Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, "The Scope of Investigation and Definition of Authority," was sent to define the scope of Mueller's investigation into those four and presumably a fifth, which remains redacted.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, had requested the declassification of this memo and Attorney General William Barr complied.
"The legal foundation of Mueller's investigation is crumbling," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News' "Hannity" on Wednesday night.
"That's why this memo is so important."
It was the second of three memos from Rosenstein, who was directing the probe because of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal from the Russia investigation.
The memo outlined the allegations against five individuals for potentially "colluding with Russian government officials," which Graham argued the memo shows the origins of the Mueller investigation was based on a debunked dossier and FBI FISA abuses and malfeasance.
The first memo was sent in May 2017, written as an overview to avoid identifying targets. A third memo, written Oct. 20, 2017, added Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, Roger Stone, and other individuals to the scope of Mueller's probe, Politico reported.
The still-redacted section for the second memo might suggest the individual mentioned either was not charged or is still connected to an ongoing matter, according to the report.
Page was never charged and the FBI has been investigated for its FISA abuses in obtaining a warrant to surveil him.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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