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Showing why he’s still one of Trump’s biggest critics, 81-year-old Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) denounced the release to the GOP’s secret memo, detailing improper, if not illegal, activity by the Justice Department and FBI in wiretapping Trump campaign officials in 2016 presidential campaign. MeCain diverts attention away from FBI and Justice Department abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA], seeking wiretaps using, among other things, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s paid opposition research against Trump AKA “the dossier.” FBI and Justice Department officials sought warrants from FISA Court to wiretap Trump campaign officials, including former foreign policy advisor Carter Page. Other Trump campaign officials, including former National Security advisor Michael Flynn and Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, were wiretapped by “incidental” data collection.

McCain says that releasing the memo damages the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. But Mueller’s exclusive focus has been on alleged Trump collusion, not Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign. “In 2016, the Russian government engaged in an elaborate plot to interfere in an American election and undermine our democracy,” said McCain. Whether that happened or not is anyone’s guess. It’s hard to prove Russia impacted the vote when Hillary won nearly 3 million more popular votes than Trump. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has said almost nothing about Russian meddling, indicting Trump campaign officials, like former Chairman Paul Manafort on conspiracy and money laundering for consulting work in the Ukraine 12 years before the 2016 campaign. Contrary to McCain’s statement, Mueller has been 100% focused on Trump collusion.

Democrats panicked about Nunes’s memo not because it violates classified material but because it embarrasses the FBI and Justice Department. Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice admitted April 4, 2017 in the Senate Intelligence Committee that she “unmasked” conversations between Trump campaign officials and former Russian Amb. Sergey Kislyak. While Rice insisted that she had every right to wiretap foreign nationals’ conversations, she went a step further “unmasking” conversations with Sessions and Flynn. “Russia employed the same tactics it has used to influence elections around the world, from France and Germany, to Ukraine, Montenegro and beyond,” said McCain, refusing to accept the gist of Nunes’ memo: That the Obama administration used the national security apparatus to spy on Trump campaign officials, something once derided by the New York Times.

McCain’s deliberate attempt to divert attention from the meaning of Nunes’s memo shows why he’s still one of Trump biggest detractors. Nunes is most concerned that the Obama administration used every trick-n-the-book to help Hillary win the election, hoping that Trump’s Russian accusations would scare off voters. When the dust settled Nov. 8, 2016, Hillary lost the election, with Democrats left in shock. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez decided to keep the Russian scare going to (a) hammer down Trump’s approval ratings and (b) give Democrats the best shot of taking back Congress in 2018. Denouncing the release of the memo, McCain hopes to put the blame on Trump, not the FBI and Justice Department. Nunes wanted the memo public to let voters decide for themselves whether or not Obama’s FBI and Justice Department acted improperly wiretapping Trump officials.

McCain’s focus on Russian meddling in the 2016 election doesn’t answer the most basic questions regarding wiretapping Trump campaign officials: What was the motive? McCain can’t admit the Obama administration did everything possible to help Hillary win the election, including using he national security apparatus to wiretap Trump campaign officials. When Rice admitted to “unmasking” Trump campaign officials, she admitted to the White House involvement in the surveillance activity against the Trump campaign. “The latest attacks against the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests—no party’s, no president’s, only Putini’s,” said McCain, avoiding Nunes’s point of releasing the memo. Nunes saw the Obama White House’s abuse of the national security apparatus for political purposes, to give Hillary the best chance of winning the 2016 election.

Now that the GOP’s secret memo is out Democrats can find all the excuses to divert attention away from a concerted attempt by the Obama White House to help Hillary win the election. When she called Trump a “Putin puppet” Oct. 19, 2016 in the last presidential debate in Las Vegas, Democrats had their narrative for Trump. Putting all their eggs into Mueller-Trump-collusion probe, Democrats hope to ride the Russian conspiracy theory all the way to retake the House and Senate. What threatened Democrats the most about Nunes’s memo was hurting their chances in November’s Midterm Elections. Democrats could care less whether or not there’s any truth to Trump’s Russian collusion. Keeping their Russian collusion theory going, Democrats hope to keep Trump’s approval ratings at rock bottom and convince voters to vote for Democrats in November.