A Senate Republican leader is telling House Republicans they should approach the release of their memo with caution. Senator John Thune (R-SD), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference said that House Republicans should first share the memo with the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr. Burr has up to this point been prevented from seeing it.
“I think the Senate Intelligence Committee needs to see it, for sure. Sen. Burr would like to see it and hasn’t been able to yet,” Thune said. “There are important national security considerations they need to weigh, and hopefully they’re doing that.”
Thune also said that the author of the memo, House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) should heed the warnings of the FBI about classified information being released to the public. The FBI is especially concerned about the divulging sources and methods.
“They have to take into consideration what the FBI is saying, and if there are things that need to be redacted, I think they need to pay careful attention to what our folks who protect us have to say about how this bears on our national security,” Thune said.
The House Intelligence Committee voted Monday to release the memo in its entirety without redactions. The president has five days to approve the release or object to it and the White House has indicated that the president is inclined to make the memo public.