Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted Monday to release a secret memo that accuses senior FBI officials involved in the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election of misconduct, despite the Department of Justice warning that making the memo public would be "extraordinarily reckless."
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told reporters the committee also voted against releasing a memo written by Democrats and denied a request by FBI Director Christopher Wray to brief the committee on the intelligence behind the memo. The document includes confidential information, and reportedly alleges that officials at the FBI misused their authority to obtain a secret surveillance order on President Trump's former campaign associate Carter Page. Republicans are using an obscure House rule that allows classified information to be made public, ignoring a letter sent to Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) from an assistant attorney general warning against the move. Democrats say the memo is misleading, and presents information with little to no context in order to undercut the Russia investigation.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How the New World Screwworm is making a deadly comebackThe explainer The parasite is spreading quickly
-
A running list of all the celebrities Trump has pardonedIN DEPTH Reality stars, rappers and disgraced politicians have received some of the high-profile pardons doled out by the president
-
US credit rating: what it is and why it mattersthe explainer Credit rating agency Moody's downgraded the US last month
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA reportspeed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign studentsspeed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulingsSpeed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administrationspeed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals courtspeed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge
-
US trade court nullifies Trump's biggest tariffsspeed read The US Court of International Trade says Trump exceeded his authority in imposing global tariffs
-
Trump pauses all new foreign student visasspeed read The State Department has stopped scheduling interviews with those seeking student visas in preparation for scrutiny of applicants' social media
-
Trump pardons Virginia sheriff convicted of briberyspeed read Former sheriff Scott Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal bribery and fraud charges
