Panetta on memo release: 'I have never in my lifetime seen anything like this happen'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta fears that the release of a controversial memo alleging government surveillance abuses by the Justice Department will cause "some very serious damage."

Speaking with CBS News' Jeff Pegues, Panetta said he had a lot of concerns with the decision by President Trump and House Intelligence Republicans on Friday to publish a confidential memo that alleges federal law enforcement officials relied heavily on an opposition research dossier in their application for a warrant to surveil former Trump adviser Carter Page.

"I think, I think the release of this memo is going to do some very serious damage, damage to the intelligence committee and the bipartisanship that is necessary in order to do oversight of classified information – damage because the president and the Congress now have a position of distrust with the Justice Department and the FBI – damage to the FISA process which has been important to our national security, and all of this sends a terrible message to our allies who are going to worry about sharing classified information that is so easily released as part of this political effort, and it's also frankly going to encourage our enemies who will see this as a breakdown in our national security process," Panetta said.

He also doubled down on his past comments that it "creates a constitutional crisis."

"I believe it creates a constitutional crisis when the president distrusts the Justice Department and the FBI. They are a primary law enforcement institutions in this country. They're the primary law enforcement agencies under our Constitution, and when the president distrusts the FBI and the Justice Department as he did in this matter, I think it does create a crisis in our system of government."

He added that in more than 50 years of public life, "I have never in my lifetime seen anything like this happen."

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/372192-panetta-on-memo-release-i-have-never-in-my-lifetime-seen-anything-like-this

[The Blue Flower]

1. That's because weve never had a Russian asset in the Oval Office

When we fix that, we can start to set things right again. Until then, he'll just do more damage.

[lindysalsagal]

2. We never had the entire majority leadership paid off and owned by russian mobsters.

THAT's the scary part.

[napi21]

3. Thank God we have people like Leon and Johm McCain,

and the few others who are making their concerns public. We can't rely on the congress whose job it really is to control the President. People like Leon and John need to alert the media & the people that they've got a maniac that must be controlled just to keep America' Democracy alive.