President Donald Trump has read the controversial and disputed surveillance memo that Republicans claim describes FBI misconduct and will send it back to Congress for release to the public with redactions by Friday, new reports say.
Fox News said the version to be declassified by Trump contains technical edits that addressed and assuaged concerns that the FBI had regarding classified and sensitive information.
The FBI, however, still disputes the accuracy of the memo, authored by House Intelligence Committee Chairman
Devin Nunes.
In it, Nunes and intel panel Republicans accuse the Department of Justice of abusing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) guidelines in its investigation into former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, whom the DOJ suspected of acting as a foreign agent.
It is expected that the president will inform the committee that the memo has been declassified, authorizing the House panel to make it public, Fox reports.
White House spokesman Raj Shah said that "as of now" the House will be responsible for releasing the memo because it’s a legislative document. He didn't offer any timing for the release.
"We’re committed to a process," Shah said. Trump "is going to take input from legal and national security voices."
FBI Director Christopher Wray urged Trump not to release the memo, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The document was compiled by Nunes’s staff based in part on classified information provided to his panel by the bureau. The Intelligence Committee voted along party lines on Monday to release the memo, and also delayed release of a rebuttal memo compiled by Democrats on the panel.
Democrats have excoriated Republicans for their handling of the Nunes memo. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday asking for Nunes, a California Republican, to be removed as the committee’s chairman.
Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, said its members were "never apprised of, never had the opportunity to review, and never approved" revisions made by Republicans on the panel before sending it to the White House, led by Chairman Devin Nunes.
This report contains material from Bloomberg News.
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