US agencies braced for publication of Republican memo accusing FBI of abusing powers to target Donald Trump

Memo: The document suggests the FBI targeted Trump during the campaign
EPA
Chloe Chaplain1 February 2018

A secret Republican memo believed to contain information suggesting the FBI abused surveillance powers to target the Trump campaign is expected to be released imminently.

Republicans in Congress have pushed to release the four-page document, crafted by Republican members of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.

It is due to be published on Thursday, a move that would put the White House in direct confrontation with the top US law enforcement agency.

The FBI issued a rare rebuke on Wednesday, saying it had been given “a limited opportunity to review” it before the committee voted to publish it.

Controversial: The President was set to approve the memo for release on Thursday 
Bloomberg via Getty Images

"As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy," the FBI said in a statement.

The US Justice Department also said releasing the memo could jeopardize classified information.

Democrats are concerned the memo could be used to undermine investigations into Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia during his campaign.

And the fight over its release reflects a wider battle over Special Counsel Robert Mueller's criminal probe into the potential collusion – denied by both President Trump and Russia.

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election
AP

Democrats say the four-page memo is misleading, based on a selective use of highly classified data and intended to discredit Mueller's investigation.

Representative Devin Nunes, the intelligence committee's Republican chairman who commissioned the document, dismissed the objections to its release as "spurious."

In a bid to block its release, Representative Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee's top Democrat, said he had discovered that Nunes had altered the memo before sending it to the White House, meaning the version had not been approved for release by the committee.

The document is believed to accuse the FBI and Justice Department of misleading a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge in March as they sought to extend an eavesdropping warrant against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

It suggests the FBI and Justice Department failed to tell the judge that some of the information used to justify the warrant was based on the so-called Trump Dossier, published by Buzzfeed, which was, in part, funded by Democrats.

But sources said the memo does not mention that the surveillance request also relied on other highly classified information and that US agencies had confirmed excerpts from the dossier included in the request.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in