Memogate demonstrates that moderate politics is dead, but maybe there is hope in people like Trey Gowdy

(Opinion) The Republican House Intelligence memo has cemented two prevailing and partisan perspectives on matters of the FBI and its relationship to President Trump, neither of which has any real nuance.

Among conservatives: The FBI, Department of Justice, and Robert Mueller’s special investigation into all things Trump and Russia are illegitimate (or at the very least, compromised), as evidenced by: texts exchanged between FBI staffers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page; the political donations that former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s wife, Jill, took from a PAC with close Clinton ties; and most importantly, the bureau’s use of admittedly-partisan and highly-discredited opposition research as reason to spy on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Among progressives: Trump is guilty of collusion with the Russians; the reason that Republicans wanted to release the partisan memo was to manufacture distrust in Mueller’s investigation and in the FBI; the FBI and DOJ are our top law enforcement agencies and ought not to be so challenged.

But there is one individual – who as part of the House Intelligence Committee helped draft the Nunes memo – offering a refreshingly divergent perspective, giving hope that moderate views may still have a chance in Washington.

Here are some excerpts from Rep. Trey Gowdy’s (R-SC) interview with Margaret Brennan on “Face The Nation” last Sunday:

REP. GOWDY: “…I’ve had my differences with Rod Rosenstein and I still think that he is fully capable of helping run a Justice Department that we can all have confidence in. I’m actually really impressed with Chris Wray and I say that, even though we are on totally opposite sides of this issue and probably will always be.  He doesn’t think the memo should have been publicly disseminated. I have real questions about the process that the bureau went through in 2016, but I also think he’s the person to lead the bureau. I think he’s doing a good job.”

BRENNAN:  “Well, the FBI was gravely concerned that there was information missing from this memo that it actually was dangerous in setting a precedent in terms of disclosing classified information, and it could actually hurt future intelligence efforts. How do you respond to that, and to Chris Wray?”

REP. GOWDY: “Difficult facts make for really bad precedent. I hope this is a one-off. I hope it is a one-off that Congress takes this position, but I also hope it’s a one-off that a FISA application contains errors and product that is funded by a political opponent. I hope that that’s a one-off.”

MARGARET BRENNAN: “That’s the Steele dossier that you are pointing to there.”

REP. GOWDY: “But it’s both the Steele dossier, and who paid for it, and whether or not it was vetted, but it’s also what was not in it. This is an application to a court. So, I get that Adam Schiff and others are worried about what’s not in my memo. I wish that they were equally concerned about what’s not in the FISA application, which is a lot of really important information about the source, and its sub-sources, and the fact that he was hired by the DNC and the Clinton campaign, and the fact that he was biased against President Trump. That is all information that the finder of fact is entitled to.”

Later in the interview:

REP. GOWDY: “Well I’m actually in a really small group, I think, of Republicans that think that this FISA process is suspect and wrong and should not have taken place. But you still have a Russia investigation even without it.

So, I don’t know how many other Republicans feel that way. I am on record as saying I support Bob Mueller 100 percent. I think you would have a Russia — look Russia tried to interfere with our election in 2016 with or without a dossier. So you need an investigation into Russia. You need an investigation into Trump Tower and the Cambridge Analytica email, separate and apart from the dossier. So those are not connected issues to me. They may be for other Republicans, but they’re not for me. I say investigate everything Russia did, but admit that this was a really sloppy process that you engaged in to surveil a U.S. citizen.”

Gowdy offered plenty of criticisms of the FISA application and how FBI and DOJ officials handled it, but never wrote the agencies off altogether. In fact, he reinforced his trust in them. Rather than selling out to simplistic, all-or-nothing talking points, Gowdy outlined a coherent middle-road position on both the memo and status of the FBI. Washington needs more leaders who can distinguish smoke from fire, and fire from inferno.

Jeremy Beaman is in his final year at the University of Mobile and also writes for The College Fix. Follow him on Twitter @jeremywbeaman.