One of the hot topics on Twitter last week was #ReleaseTheMemo. “The memo” is shorthand for a highly classified document that summarizes both the misuse of FISA and the apparent hard-on the FBI had for Trump. Last week the House Intelligence Committee voted to let members see the memo.

I'm told number of House members who have read secret Intel Committee 'FISA abuse' memo is now around 200. Leaders planning public release, timeframe 1-2 weeks.

— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 23, 2018

Let me stop here for a second and say something that can’t be said too often. The memo is highly classified because it is derived from highly classified documents. It is kept in the SCIF in the House of Representatives. Members can read it but they can’t get copies or make notes. Whatever it contains is much more than copies of the Strzok-Page texts.

Pressure is building on the House leadership to release a redacted version of the memo and that will probably come to pass in a couple of weeks. The Democrats are fighting it tooth and nail. One would think that if the memo were the unmitigated mound of malarkey they say it is, they would welcome the release because it would neutralize Devin Nunes. But they say it is fake and they say you are too stupid to not be swayed by it.

Leading the effort is Adam Schiff. Schiff is a hard-core and unprincipled progressive from California. Not all that long ago he was a figure of fun among conservatives, now he enjoys the status of ‘truth-teller’ among a lot of those same people. This is how Schiff reacted to the Twitter hashtag:

Hill Dems suggest House Intel 'FISA abuse' memo, #releasethememo calls, are part of Russian attack on US. pic.twitter.com/2lIMX3zuCI

— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 23, 2018

Yep. Russia is not our friend11!1!!!!11!

This is ridiculous. The memo was not developed by Russia. The decision to let House members read the memo was not made by Russia. If people did learn about the memo from Russian bots then Russia deserves more credit for promoting governmental transparency than Schiff does.

Devin Nunes and his companions have made some fairly serious allegations. They feel confident enough about those allegations to put them in writing and keep them under lock and key. What is in the memo is damaging enough that Schiff hasn’t leaked it yet. If the allegations are that serious then the American people have a right to know.

What Schiff is doing is simply foreshadowing a strategy that will be in full bloom by November 2018. Using this fatuous nonsense of widespread Russian interference in the 2016 election (the Russians spent a tiny fraction of a percent of all online ad money spent), the Democrats and those credulous souls who are clinging, bitterly, to the collusion narrative are going to paint every conservative media outlet and lobbying group as being in the pocket of the Russians. They’re trying this with the NRA. They are doing it with coverage of the memo. There will be a lot more as we get into the general election.

Schiff’s actions are much more damaging to the US political environment than anything Russia has done because he’s saying if you don’t toe his line you are a Russian stooge.