Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, announced Wednesday night that committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) made "material changes" to the controversial FBI-related memo he sent to the White House, with the "changes not approved by the committee."
On Monday, Republicans on the committee voted to make public a classified memo crafted by GOP staffers that reportedly accuses FBI and Justice Department officials of abusing surveillance laws to target Carter Page, one of President Trump's campaign advisers. The FBI said it has "grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact" the accuracy of the memo, and Democrats say the memo is misleading and could compromise intelligence sources.
In a letter to Nunes, Schiff said Democrats on the committee compared the memo that was made available to House members on Jan. 18 with the memo sent to the White House, and they are not the same document. "After reviewing both versions, it is clear that the majority made material changes to the version it sent to the White House, which committee members were never apprised of, never had the opportunity to review, and never approved," Schiff wrote.
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It is "deeply troubling" that the White House has been "reviewing a document since Monday that the committee never approved for public release," he added, and the changes made by Nunes "do not correct the profound distortions and inaccuracies in your document," but they are "nonetheless substantive." Now, Schiff said, it's "imperative that the committee majority immediately withdraw the document that it sent to the White House." Catherine Garcia
Update 12:50 a.m. ET: A spokemsan for the Intelligence Committee's GOP majority pushed back on Schiff's letter, calling Monday's vote "absolutely procedurally sound" and dismissing the changes as "minor edits ... including grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI" and committee Democrats.
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