Trump is expected to approve the release of the unredacted Nunes memo today
On Friday, President Trump will sign off on the release of a four-page memo compiled by Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, and committee Republicans, led by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), will likely make it public sometime during the day, White House officials said Thursday. Trump has read the Nunes memo and is expected to clear it for public consumption without any of the redactions requested by the FBI and other intelligence agencies.
The classified memo, released under a never-before-used House rule, apparently purports to show that the FBI did not indicate in a FISA surveillance warrant that one of its sources, Christopher Steele, was working on a dossier funded indirectly by Hillary Clinton. The FBI has expressed "grave concerns" about the fallout and accuracy of the memo, but despite some concerns at the White House, FBI Director Christopher Wray isn't expected to resign over the memo's release. The FBI Agents Association sided with Wray over Trump on Thursday, and former FBI Director James Comey suggested that Nunes and his allies are "weasels and liars."
Democrats call the memo a misleading and potentially dangerous attempt to discredit the FBI to protect Trump from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and Trump has "told advisers that he thinks the memo is 'gaining traction' and could help him convince the public that the Mueller probe is a witch hunt," The Washington Post reports. A number of people in the White House, meanwhile, fear the memo is a "dud," Axios reports, "and there's internal anxiety about whether it's worth angering the FBI director and intelligence community by releasing this information."
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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Zimbabwe’s driving crisisUnder the Radar Southern African nation is experiencing a ‘public health disaster’ with one of the highest road fatality rates in the world
-
The Mint’s 250th anniversary coins face a whitewashing controversyThe Explainer The designs omitted several notable moments for civil rights and women’s rights
-
‘If regulators nix the rail merger, supply chain inefficiency will persist’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
-
House GOP revolt forces vote on ACA subsidiesSpeed Read The new health care bill would lower some costs but not extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
