House Intel Committee votes unanimously to send Democratic rebuttal memo to Trump

The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday to release a classified memo written by Democrats as a rebuttal to the document compiled for Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), sending the Democratic memo to the White House for final clearance. The Nunes memo, which purports to show that the FBI mishandled the FISA warrant application to monitor one of President Trump's former campaign advisers, was released Friday after President Trump said he had no objections. The FBI and Democrats say the memo is misleading and cherry-picks information.

The House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), told reporters Monday afternoon that Nunes was asked if he coordinated with the White House while crafting the memo, and Nunes refused to answer. He also said that as Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election progresses and more people are indicted or plead guilty in connection with it, "there is a rising sense of panic clearly in the White House and on the Hill. As a result, we see a tactic we have often seen in criminal cases: When the facts are increasingly incriminating of the defendant, there's an effort to put the government on trial. That brings us to where we are today."

Schiff went on to accuse Republicans of putting the FBI and Justice Department on trial, saying that "very ill serves the public, and we hope they will stop." Trump now has five days to decide if he will block the release of the Democratic memo.

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