Trey Gowdy hints at what damning information is found in secret FISA memo

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), one of the leading House Republicans, hinted at the contents of the secret "FISA memo" that details alleged government surveillance abuses during an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

What did he say?

Since news of the memo broke, Republicans have called for the memo's public release, as has President Donald Trump. They say the American public needs to see what the memo contains, and more importantly, what the government is doing. They say the four-page memo offers evidence the Obama administration used the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to spy on the Trump campaign and transition team.

Democrats, on the other hand, say the memo is filled with classified, biased information meant to undermine the Department of Justice and special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia investigation.

Through a series of well-crafted rhetorical questions, Gowdy hinted at the contents of the memo, which he helped write, in his interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace on Sunday.

First, Gowdy made it clear the memo isn't biased. He explained it is the "distilling" of thousands of pages of documents given to House investigators.

"If you think your viewers want to know whether or not the dossier was used in court proceedings, whether or not it was vetted before it was used, whether or not it's ever been vetted. If you are interested in who paid for the dossier. If you're interested in Christopher Steele's relationship with Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee, then, yes, you'll want the memo to come out," Gowdy explained.

One of the central questions surrounding the dossier is whether or not it was used — or how heavily it was relied upon — to obtain a FISA court surveillance warrant against Carter Page, a Trump campaign official.

Wallace asked Gowdy about that, but the House Oversight Committee chairman didn't definitively answer, explaining that if he did, he would be disseminating classified information.

"I will just ask you again, are you interested in whether or not the world's premier law enforcement agency relied on a work product produced, paid for by the Democratic National Committee?" Gowdy asked.

"Do you want to know whether or not the primary source in these court proceedings had a bias against one candidate? Do you want to know whether or not he said he'd do anything to keep that candidate from becoming elected president?" he added.

Meanwhile, Gowdy said he wants the FBI to review the document before it's released.

"I want the bureau to know everything that's in the memo. I think you'll be surprised. It is not a hit piece on the department and the FBI. I would not have participated in it if that's what it was," he explained.

Watch the interview below:

Gowdy's comments about the memo begin around 3:23: