James Comey rips into Nunes memo release: 'That's it?'

James Comey.
(Image credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Former FBI Director James Comey summarily dismissed a controversial memo released to the public Friday that alleges improper conduct by the FBI. "That's it?" he wrote on Twitter after the memo's unredacted release, which was ordered Friday morning by the White House.

The memo, authored by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, centers on the FBI and Justice Department's surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Republicans have claimed the memo is proof of bias against President Trump at the FBI, while the bureau itself as well as the Justice Department expressed "grave concerns" about the document's accuracy and urged Trump not to release it.

Writing on Twitter, Comey said the memo was "dishonest and misleading." He then ran through its likely consequences for the GOP: "wrecked the House [Intelligence Committee], destroyed trust with intelligence community, damaged relationship with [foreign surveillance] court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what?"

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The events included in the memo occurred in late 2016 and early 2017, while Comey was still FBI director. You can read the full memo here.

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Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.