House GOP Votes To Release Controversial Memo

Jan. 30--WASHINGTON -- President Trump is expected to order the release of a controversial secret House Intelligence Committee memo that has become a political lightning rod in the ongoing Russian election meddling probe.

Last night, GOP members of the House Intelligence Committee voted over the objection of Democrats to release the classified memo, alleging the FBI and Justice Department misused surveillance laws to monitor a former Trump campaign aide.

The party-line vote came despite a Justice Department warning that the release would be "extraordinarily reckless." The memo, drafted by committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), reportedly focuses on the use of a dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele to obtain a surveillance warrant against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

Republicans contend that the move was made in the interest of transparency. But Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the committee's ranking Democrat, blasted the move as an attempt by Republicans to protect Trump by attacking the credibility of the Russia probe. A committee vote to also release a memo Democrats drafted countering points made in the GOP memo failed, also along party lines.

"We had votes today to politicize the intelligence process, to prohibit the FBI and the Department of Justice from expressing their concerns to our committee and to the House, and to selectively release to the public only the majority's distorted memo without the full facts," Schiff said yesterday. "A very sad day, I think, in the history of this committee."

Trump has five days to review the memo and either order its public release or decide to keep it secret. The White House said he will make a decision in the coming days. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier Trump favors "full transparency."

The Justice Department was not allowed to make recommendations on redactions before the memo's release to the White House last night, but FBI Director Christopher Wray did view the document over the weekend, according to Politico.

Meanwhile, Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe abruptly left his post yesterday, two months before his planned retirement. The White House said Trump had no involvement in McCabe's early departure. Trump has frequently criticized McCabe to the press and on Twitter, claiming he is biased because his wife received campaign contributions from a Hillary Clinton ally, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. It is unclear if McCabe is mentioned in the Nunes memo.

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