Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have written their own memo in response to a Republican memo detailing alleged abuses by the FBI and the Justice Department in administering the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.
It has been reported that the Republican memo reveals the FBI obtained FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign based on unsubstantiated claims laid out in the infamous Steele Dossier. Republican members of Congress have called the memo “worse than Watergate” and “shocking.”
Roughly 200 members of Congress have seen the memo and there has even been a social media campaign trending to make the memo public. Releasing the memo would require a vote of the House Intelligence Committee to declassify it. The executive branch would then have five days to approve making it public. The White House has declined to comment on whether it supports the memo’s release, but said it supports “full transparency.”
The Republican memo has become the subject of some criticism though, after it was revealed that it was largely written by House Intelligence Committee Chair, Devin Nunes of California. Additionally, Nunes has prevented the FBI, the Justice Department and even some Republican Senators from viewing it.
Democrats have described the memo has “rife with factual inaccuracies.” Ranking Democratic member on the Intelligence Committee Rep. Adam Schiff, says Republicans are looking to selectively and misleadingly characterize classified information” in an effort to “protect” President Trump. Schiff says Democrats have had to create their own memo “setting out the relevant facts” and “exposing the misleading character of the Republicans’ document.”
According to Schiff, the Intelligence Committee will vote on Monday to release the Democratic memo to the full House.