WASHINGTON (AP) – The FBI said it has “grave concerns” about omissions in a classified memo on the Russia investigation that President Donald Trump wants released to the public.
The GOP memo is an effort to detail what they said is a misuse of surveillance by the FBI and Justice Department. Trump has five days to review it and it will be released if he doesn’t object.
The statement Wednesday was the FBI’s first public comment about a four-page memo that was drafted by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee. The committee voted on Monday to make it public.
The issue has divided the Trump Justice Department and White House.
In its statement, the FBI said, “We have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”
The statements came hours after Trump was overheard telling a Republican lawmaker that he was “100 percent” in favor of releasing the document.
Several Democrats have publicly dismissed the memo. California Representative Adam Schiff challenged the committee and Trump on the expected release.
The FBI confirms that the memo contains “material omissions of fact” that “fundamentally impact” its accuracy. Nunes used this memo to mislead the House. Will the President now use it to mislead the country? pic.twitter.com/J7LNg47p9f
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 31, 2018
Representative Devin Nunes of California, an ally of President Trump, pushed back and said that the objections of the Trump administration’s FBI and the Justice Department to releasing the memor are “spurious”.
He claims top law enforcement officials misused the courts during a counter-intelligence investigation during the 2016 election by using “unverified information in a court document.”
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