Trey Gowdy attacked a Democrat talking point on the FISA memo - here's what he said

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) explained why a Democrat talking point attempting to undermine the validity of the FISA memo just doesn't hold water in his view.

Here's what Gowdy said:

"It seems like the biggest one of the big bones of contention, would be whether or not the dossier was essential to the approval of the FISA surveillance," said Fox News host Martha McCallum.

"You have argued that it was essential, that without it, they would never have received the authorization for the warrant from the FISA court," she continued. "You said that there's other information about Carter Page — you said they basically have three things. They have the Yahoo News article, the dossier, and other information about Carter Page."

"Can they argue that that other information was substantial enough for the warrant?" she asked.

"I would find that interesting because they didn't make that argument to the judge," Gowdy responded. "If you have enough without the dossier, then why did you include the dossier? If you have enough without the dossier, why did you, in your court filing, lead with the dossier? Lawyers don't start with their weakest argument."

"And you certainly don't start with an argument that you don't need to make and should not have made," he added. "So the fact that you used the dossier tells me that you felt that you needed it, or else you would not have included it in your court filing."

Memo vs. memo

The FISA memo drafted by Gowdy summarized findings in an investigation of the FBI and the Department of Justice, and intended to show malfeasance on the part of some officials in seeking surveillance on members of the Trump campaign before the election.

Democrats have drafted their own 10-page memo intended to undermine the argument of the FISA memo. The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously to release the memo and President Donald Trump will make a final decision on its release.

Here's the video of Gowdy's argument:

.@TGowdySC: "If you have enough without the dossier, then why did you include the dossier? If you have enough without the dossier, why did you, in your court filing, lead with the dossier? Lawyers don't start with their weakest argument." #TheStory pic.twitter.com/hv5GbfPjxY

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 7, 2018