FBI and White House clash over controversial Republican memo
The FBI has publicly challenged a
push by Republican lawmakers to release a controversial memo which
purports to show anti-Trump bias at the agency.
"We have grave
concerns about the material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact
the memo's accuracy," the FBI said in a statement.
The White House has reportedly indicated that it could be published on Thursday.
Democrats claim the memo is an attempt to discredit the FBI-led Russia probe.
The White House has to approve the top-secret memo's release.
"It
will be released here pretty quick, I think, and the whole world can
see it," White House chief of staff John Kelly said during an interview
with Fox News Radio on Wednesday.
Hours later, the FBI issued a
rare statement saying that it had had "limited opportunity" to review
the document before the House Intelligence committee voted to release it
on Monday.
"We are committed to working with the appropriate
oversight entities to ensure the continuing integrity of the FISA
(Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) process," the FBI statement
added.
On Wednesday night Democrats on the committee accused the
Republicans of secretly altering the memo before giving it to the White
House.
Representative Adam Schiff said the document had "material
changes", meaning it was not the same as the one that had been voted on.
He said it should be withdrawn and re-reviewed prior to any possible
public release.
BREAKING: Discovered late tonight that Chairman Nunes made material changes to the memo he sent to White House – changes not approved by the Committee. White House therefore reviewing a document the Committee has not approved for release. pic.twitter.com/llhQK9L7l6— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 1, 2018
What is the memo?
The four-page
memo, which was compiled by staffers for the House Intelligence
Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, claims that the Department of Justice
abused the surveillance programme known as FISA to unfairly target a
member of the Trump campaign.
According to lawmakers who have
reviewed it, the document purports to show that the agency obtained a
warrant to spy on a Trump campaign aide after submitting as evidence the
unproven "Russian dossier".
That dossier was compiled by former
British intelligence agent Christopher Steele with money financed in
part from the Hillary Clinton campaign.
The committee voted to release the memo earlier this week, and Mr
Trump has until the weekend to decide whether to de-classify the
information for public release.
Mr Trump was heard following his State of the Union speech on
Tuesday night telling a Republican lawmaker that he is "100%" for
releasing the document, but on Wednesday White House spokeswoman Sarah
Sanders told CNN "there's always a chance" that it will not be released.
But
Mr Kelly was less equivocal, telling Fox News on Wednesday morning that
Mr Trump "wants everything out so the American people can make up their
own minds and if there's people to be held accountable, then so be it".
Why is it controversial?
Before
the FBI statement on Wednesday, the Department of Justice had already
said it would be "extraordinary reckless" to release the document.
Democrats,
whose efforts to release a competing memo were blocked by the
committee, claim that Mr Nunes cherry-picked highly classified
information that they say could jeopardise national security.
They
argue the memo is an effort to embarrass the FBI and discredit the
investigation, led by special counsel Robert Mueller, into alleged
Russian meddling and possible obstruction of justice by members of the
Trump administration.
But Trump officials say the memo proves his claim that he has been treated unfairly by the FBI.
After
firing FBI director James Comey, Mr Trump reportedly asked his
temporary replacement Andrew McCabe how he had voted in the 2016
presidential election.
Mr McCabe, who briefly served as acting agency director, resigned amid public accusations of Democratic bias from Mr Trump. He was planning to retire in March.
What is the latest reaction?
Chairman
Nunes, who served on the Trump team during his White House transition,
said on Wednesday it was "no surprise" that the FBI has objected to the
memo's release.
"Having stonewalled Congress' demands for
information for nearly a year, it's no surprise to see the FBI and DoJ
issue spurious objections to allowing the American people to see
information related to surveillance abuses at these agencies," he said.
A
top Democrat on the House committee, Adam Schiff, said that releasing
the memo "increases the risk of a constitutional crisis by setting the
stage for subsequent actions by the White House to fire [Special Counsel
Robert] Mueller or, as now seems more likely, Deputy Attorney General
Rod J Rosenstein".
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who serves
on the Senate Intelligence committee, said that the Republicans are
clearly trying to "undermine the special counsel's investigation".
"There's no excuse for playing politics with highly classified information," Mrs Feinstein added.
BBC
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