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 U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Legislative Affairs

Office of the Assistant Attorney General

January 24, 2018

The Honorable

Chairman

Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Recent news reports indicate a classified memorandum prepared by House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI or Committee) staff alleges abuses at the Department of Justice (Department) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the FISA process. We understand many members of the House of Representatives have viewed this memorandum and that it has raised concerns.

As you know, we have provided HPSCI with more than 1,000 pages of classified documents relating to the FBI‘s relationship, if any, with a source and its reliance, if any, on information provided by that source. Media reports indicate that the Committee‘s memorandum contains highly classified material confidentially provided by the Department to the Committee in a secure facility.

The Department takes any allegation abuse of our justice system by Department employees seriously. Further, we assume that HPSCI members want to provide evidence of any specific allegation of misconduct to Department officials so that we may take appropriate action. The rule of law depends on the confidence of the American people that our prosecutors and investigators apply the law fairly and without bias or regard for political influence. Though we are currently unaware of any wrongdoing relating to the FISA process, we agree that any abuse of that system cannot be tolerated.