Top Justice Department officials urged White House not to make secret memo public

Rod Rosenstein.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray spent their Monday appealing to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, warning him of the danger in making a secret memo compiled by Republicans public, several people briefed on the meeting told The Washington Post.

The memo claims to show abuses by top FBI officials, and Rosenstein said that not only could the four-page document jeopardize classified information, but the Department of Justice is not convinced that it's even entirely accurate. Kelly told Rosenstein President Trump is leaning toward releasing the memo, but it will go through a review by the National Security Council and White House Counsel's Office, a senior administration official told the Post.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.