A hyper-partisan, not-yet-released Republican memo written by Rep. Devin Nunes which allegedly claims that the FBI and DOJ abused their power with regard to Trump campaign surveillance was altered by Nunes before he sent it to the White House, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said late on Wednesday.
Schiff said the document already had “profound distortions and inaccuracies” before the changes were made, and called Nunes’ actions “deeply troubling” because the White House is now reviewing a document that was not shared with nor voted on by the entire House Intelligence Committee.
Schiff called on Republicans to withdraw the document it sent to the White House and called for a new vote on the memo and on another memo, written up by the Democrats on the committee. Majority Republicans have denied Democrats the opportunity to release a memo in response to the Nunes memo.
Tweeted Schiff: “Discovered late tonight that Chairman Nunes made material changes to the memo he sent to White House – changes not approved by the Committee. White House therefore reviewing a document the Committee has not approved for release.”
BREAKING: Discovered late tonight that Chairman Nunes made material changes to the memo he sent to White House – changes not approved by the Committee. White House therefore reviewing a document the Committee has not approved for release. pic.twitter.com/llhQK9L7l6
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 1, 2018
Jack Langer, a spokesman for Nunes, confirmed that the memo had been edited, but he told NBC News that the changes included “grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and by the Minority themselves,” referring to committee Democrats.
“The vote to release the memo was absolutely procedurally sound, and in accordance with House and Committee rules,” Langer said. “To suggest otherwise is a bizarre distraction from the abuses detailed in the memo, which the public will hopefully soon be able to read for themselves.”
But a senior Democratic source on the Intelligence Committee disputed that account, telling NBC News that the changes weren’t “cosmetic.”
“Instead, they try to water down some of the majority’s assertions,” the source said.
In a rare public statement yesterday, the FBI disavowed the memo.
Said the FBI in its statement: “With regard to the House Intelligence Committee’s memorandum, the FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it. As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray has reportedly urged the White House not to release the memo. At his State of the Union address last night, Donald Trump was overheard telling a Republican lawmaker that he’s “100 percent” going to release the memo.
