Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker and former Justice Department official Robert Driscoll weigh in on Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) comments on the release of the FISA memo and how the memo impacts the FBI.The information contained in the memo released by House Republicans on Friday that accused FBI and Justice Department officials of improperly obtaining permission to surveil a former Trump campaign adviser shows a tragic failure of leadership on the part of former FBI Director James Comey.But importantly, the memo does not in any way reflect on the outstanding work of the more than 35,000 dedicated men and women of the FBI.It pains me - as a former FBI executive who loves and respects the organization - to say that Comey's short tenure at the FBI has proven to be the worst thing to happen to the agency since Director L. Patrick Gray was fired during the Watergate scandal.If the facts stated in the memo are true - despite the highly political nature of congressional committees - then there was either incompetent or deliberate manipulation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court to get approval of the surveillance.See video here Even new agent trainees at the FBI Academy know better than to use paid opposition research and newspaper articles to support use of one of the most sensitive and intrusive surveillance techniques in the investigative toolbox. If they do use such information, the FISA judge should have been apprised of the origins of the research.FBI agents are also taught to never mislead any court of law. It's unlikely the surveillance warrant would have been issued if the FISA judge was aware that political opponents (the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee) had financed the information used to obtain approval of the surveillance.FISA applications go through extensive reviews at multiple levels of executive management at the FBI and Justice Department. They are signed by the most senior FBI and Justice Department executives before they are presented to the FISA court for approval.McCabe, enabled by Comey, created an attitude among his inner circle that flaunted well- established laws and regulations. Comey usurped the role of the Justice Department in publicly exonerating Hillary Clinton from wrongdoing in her handling of government emails when she was secretary of state.At the same time, Comey took highly conflicted Attorney General Loretta Lynch off the hook to formally recuse herself from the Hillary Clinton probe as a result of Lynch's own inexcusable and inept conduct in meeting former President Bill Clinton while his wife was under Justice Department and FBI investigation.Comey permitted leaks and allowed bias to infect two of the most important investigations ever conducted by the FBI. He clearly permitted his lead investigative agent to predetermine the outcome of the Clinton investigation, while allowing the agent's biased actions and anti-Trump texts to complicate the role of Special Counsel Robert Mueller in actually getting to the truth of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page - who were carrying on a romantic affair when they traded numerous text criticizing then-candidate Trump - are now star witnesses for the defense in any indictments that come out of Mueller's office.Mueller is an honest, fair and non-political professional who took a bullet for his country as a Marine in Vietnam. He is our best chance to learn the truth. And the truth should be good enough for everyone. He served for 12 years as FBI director with many accomplishments, no terrorist attacks on his watch and not a hint of controversy.Current FBI Director Chris Wray has now taken the helm and is trying his best to right the ship. This is no time for him to resign. He has a lot to overcome in a very difficult task. He must maintain his independence from the president while navigating political controversy coming at him from every direction.Wray is very deliberately cleaning out the remnants of the Comey cabal on the FBI's 7th Floor. He has apparently been given a preview of the Department of Justice inspector general's investigation of the conduct of several FBI officials during the Clinton investigation. This inspector general is the same person who outed the Strzok and Page texts.Now information is circulating that the Republican memo made public is just the tip of the iceberg.The Republican congressional memo outlines potentially serious misconduct on the part of the Comey leadership team. Going forward, the FBI should err on the side of transparency. Director Wray should make every effort to declassify the documents and affidavit supporting surveillance approved by the FISA Court.Such information has been released before. It is better for the FBI to release the information than to have it come from a political body like Congress. Let the public decide for themselves without political spin.The American people, Congress and the president should sit back and allow Special Counsel Mueller to do his work. This nation has an interest in making sure that Russian President Vladimir Putin's intelligence thugs and mobbed-up oligarchs do not influence our political processes.It's time to find out what really happened.Chris E. Swecker served 24 years in FBI as Special Agent. He retired from the Bureau as Assistant Director with responsibility over all FBI Criminal Investigations. He currently practices law in Charlotte, N.C</s>The controversial memo by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) alleging misconduct by the FBI and Department of Justice is “legally and logically irrelevant,” a former federal prosecutor said Friday after its release.

“This is advocacy, and not particularly sophisticated advocacy,” Patrick Cotter — now an attorney at Greensfelder, Hemker and Gale — told Mic in an email. “Not impartial legal analysis.”

The four-page memo alleges that the FBI and Department of Justice improperly relied on the salacious dossier complied by former British spy Christopher Steele to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant on Carter Page — an aide to the Trump campaign who admitted he met with Kremlin officials in 2016.

The memo accuses Steele of misconduct as part of an effort to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president — and that former FBI Director James Comey, ousted Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein all signed off on the allegedly inappropriate Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants.

Trump fired Comey in May 2017. McCabe announced this week he was resigning his post after months of pressure from Trump. And the president on Friday signaled he may attempt to oust Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Russia investigation.

“You figure that one out,” Trump told reporters after being asked if he was confident in the deputy attorney general.

Trump authorized the release of the memo Friday, hours after tweeting that federal law enforcement leaders have “politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans.”

But according to Cotter, the memo leaves out information that would be critical to determining if the FISA court ruling was correct.

“What was the complete information presented to the FISA court?” Cotter said. “To leave that out, and to then suggest that some other information should have been given to the court, is facile but legally and logically irrelevant. No one can decide whether the FISA court ruling was correct until they review the whole application. Only then can anyone rationally decide whether the supposed additional information would have been meaningful or necessary.”

Democrats have sought to release a “response memorandum,” but House Republicans have blocked them in what Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee said in a statement Friday afternoon is a “transparent effort to suppress the full truth.”

“The Republican document mischaracterizes highly sensitive classified information that few members of Congress have seen, and which Chairman Nunes himself chose not to review,” the statement said. “The sole purpose of the Republican document is to circle the wagons around the White House and insulate the president.”

Other top Democrats, law enforcement officials and even some Republicans also slammed the decision to release the memo. The FBI was also against its release, saying in a statement earlier this week that key omissions “fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

But Trump and his allies, including Page himself, already appear to be rallying around the document, which the president reportedly believes could help him undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.

Republicans have been seeking to delegitimize the investigation into Trump by suggesting that it began with the Steele dossier by Fusion GPS. But the New York Times reported in December that the probe was actually spurred by comments campaign aide George Papadopoulos made while intoxicated to an Australian official in 2016 — which the Nunes memo seems to confirm.

“The Page FISA application also mentions information regarding fellow Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, but there is no evidence of cooperation or conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos,” the memo reads. “The Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016.”

Page, who has long been a subject of scrutiny in the Russia investigations, said in a statement Friday that he would be “updating my pending legal action” against the DOJ in light of the memo.

After declassifying the memo, Trump told reporters he considered the contents of the memo “terrible.”

“I think it’s a disgrace,” Trump said. “A lot of people should be ashamed.”

But critics said that there was key information missing from the document, and that its release could endanger federal law enforcement.

“FISA is, by definition, where the nation’s most sensitive investigations are often rooted,” Cotter told Mic. “To expose secret and highly sensitive information, including the names and procedures associated with a FISA surveillance application, for political or public relations purposes, as opposed to after court review and appropriate protections having been put into place, is stunning and unprecedented.”</s>(CNN) House Republicans, with the approval of President Donald Trump, on Friday released a disputed GOP intelligence memo that alleges FBI abuses of its surveillance authority.

The highly controversial memo from the GOP and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes alleges that then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the committee that no surveillance warrant would have been sought for a Trump campaign aide without a disputed opposition research dossier on Trump and Russia.

The memo is the most explicit Republican effort yet to discredit the FBI's investigation into Trump and Russia, alleging that the investigation was infused with an anti-Trump bias under the Obama administration and supported with political opposition research.

The public release of the classified document, through a never-before-used committee rule, threatens to further fracture the frayed relationship between the President and his Justice Department and intelligence community, both of which opposed the release of the document, which is based on classified intelligence. The FBI issued a rare public warning on Wednesday that the memo omits key information that could impact its veracity. The release also raises the question of whether Trump might seek to dismiss his deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who appointed special counsel Robert Mueller.

Trump signed off on releasing the memo before it was released, and the White House requested no redactions, spokesman Raj Shah said.

Speaking in the Oval Office Friday, Trump implied the memo revealed political bias at the FBI. He said he believed the purported bias was a "disgrace" and said certain people should be "ashamed of themselves."

Asked whether he retained confidence in Rosenstein or if he planned to fire him, Trump demurred.

"You figure that one out," Trump said.

Democrats have slammed the memo as an inaccurate and misleading portrait intended to undermine Mueller's probe. They disputed what the memo concluded about McCabe's testimony on the dossier as the basis for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant.

California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told reporters Friday that the Republican memo "cherry picks" information from McCabe's testimony.

Schiff argued that memo does not represent what McCabe told the House Intelligence Committee, and he said McCabe told the panel the "genesis of the investigation" did not begin with the dossier.

The memo is focused on a warrant granted in October 2016 by the FISA court to monitor former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page, as well as the approval of three subsequent renewals.

Even if the dossier was used as part of the application, a FISA renewal indicates that a judge was convinced that the surveillance was yielding information about the target acting as an agent of a foreign power that merited continued monitoring.

FBI Director Christopher Wray addressed FBI employees in an internal video, according to two people who had viewed it, telling agency employees that it's been a tough time and unsettling, and the last few days have only made it worse.

"The American people read the newspapers and watch TV, but your work is all that matters. Actions speak louder than words," Wray said in the video, the sources said.

Questions about the memo

The memo tries to connect what Republicans believe was a flawed application to monitor Page to the overall counterintelligence investigation into potential collusion between Russians and the Republican campaign.

But the memo also undermines its own argument about the application being overly reliant on the dossier. It notes that the application also included information regarding Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos , suggesting there was intelligence beyond the dossier in the Page application.

Papadopoulos was already under investigation for contacts with a professor connected to the Russian government who had promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. That investigation was opened months before the Page application after the FBI received information from the Australian government, CNN has reported.

The memo states that the FBI counterintelligence investigation was "triggered" by Papadopoulos in July 2016, months before the Page FISA application was filed.

The memo also doesn't mention that the FBI had earlier opened an investigation into the Russian intelligence agencies' hack of the Democratic National Committee.

Former FBI Director James Comey, who was in charge during the 2016 campaign, downplayed the significance of the memo Friday.

"That's it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs," Comey tweeted.

That's it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs. — James Comey (@Comey) February 2, 2018

Rep. Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican who vetted the intelligence for the Intelligence Committee in place of Nunes, tweeted that the memo did not discredit Mueller's investigation.

"As I have said repeatedly, I also remain 100 percent confident in Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The contents of this memo do not - in any way - discredit his investigation," Gowdy tweeted. "While this memo raises serious concerns with the FISA process, I have been and remain confident in the overwhelming majority of the men and women serving at the FBI and DOJ."

As I have said repeatedly, I also remain 100 percent confident in Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The contents of this memo do not - in any way - discredit his investigation. — Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) February 2, 2018

JUST WATCHED James Comey on Nunes memo: That's it? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH James Comey on Nunes memo: That's it? 01:02

Dossier allegations

The memo alleges that Christopher Steele, the ex-British intelligence agent who wrote the dossier, harbored anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations that were not included in the FISA application, and that senior DOJ officials knew about Steele's anti-Trump bias.

According to the memo, that Steele told then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr in September 2016 that he "was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president."

The memo alleges that the FISA application cited a September 2016 Yahoo News article on Page's July 2016 trip to Moscow, but the application "incorrectly assesses that Steele did not provide information to Yahoo News."

"The article does not corroborate the Steele dossier because it is derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo news," the memo states.

But the memo then goes on to say that the FBI did not know about Steele's media contacts, alleging Steele "improperly concealed and lied" to the FBI about his media contacts. Schiff, however, said that the Yahoo News article was not referenced in the FISA application to corroborate Steele.

The memo names former officials in the Obama administration who signed off on the warrants, saying former FBI Director James Comey signed three applications, and McCabe and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates signed at least one.

But the memo also states that Rosenstein -- who was elevated under Trump -- signed off on at least one FISA application for Page. Dana Boente, who is currently the FBI general counsel and was appointed by Trump's FBI director, also signed off as well on one or more of the applications.

JUST WATCHED Trump believes memo could undercut Russia probe Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump believes memo could undercut Russia probe 05:40

Democrats dispute memo's findings

Democrats have slammed the Republican memo as misleading and inaccurate. Schiff, saying the memo fails to provide "vital context," called the memo "a shameful effort to discredit" the FBI and Justice Department and an attempt to undermine Mueller's probe.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the memo "demonstrates an astonishing disregard for the truth."

"Unlike almost every House member who voted in favor of this memo's release, I have actually read the underlying documents on which the memo was based. They simply do not support its conclusions," Warner said in a statement.

But Nunes said in a statement that committee had "discovered serious violations of the public trust, and the American people have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes."

"It is my hope that the committee's actions will shine a light on this alarming series of events so we can make reforms that allow the American people to have full faith and confidence in their governing institutions," Nunes said.

JUST WATCHED Trump on memo: A lot of people should be ashamed Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump on memo: A lot of people should be ashamed 02:01

Page's role

The Steele dossier alleges that Page met senior Russian officials as an emissary of the Trump campaign and discussed quid-pro-quo deals relating to sanctions, business opportunities and Russia's interference in the election. After Page took a trip to Russia in July 2016, the FBI grew concerned that he had been compromised by Russian operatives, US officials briefed on the matter told CNN.

Page says he never cut any political deals with the Kremlin and says there was nothing illegal in his interactions with Russian officials.

"The brave and assiduous oversight by Congressional leaders in discovering this unprecedented abuse of process represents a giant, historic leap in the repair of America's democracy," Page said in a statement Friday.

Ohr, the Justice Department official who was demoted amid the discovery of his ties to the opposition research firm behind the controversial Trump dossier, figures prominently in the memo.

"Before and after Steele was terminated as a source, he maintained contact with DOJ via then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr," the memo says. "Shortly after the election, the FBI began interviewing Ohr, documenting his communications with Steele," including "clear evidence of Steele's bias," according to the memo.

It adds, "Ohr later provided the FBI will all his wife's opposition research, paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign via Fusion GPS. The Ohrs' relationship with Settle and Fusion GPS was inexplicably concealed from (the FISA court)."

Ohr previously served as an associate deputy attorney general, but was stripped of that position after his meetings with Steele and Simpson became public in December. More recently, Ohr was removed as head of the Justice Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces as well.

Escalation of partisan fight over Russia probe

The memo was spearheaded by Nunes, who was a member of the Trump transition team, and written by majority committee staff.

The committee voted along party lines to release the memo first to the full House and then to the public on Monday.

At the same time, the committee rejected an effort from Schiff to also make public a 10-page Democratic counter-memo. The committee voted to release that memo to the full House, and Schiff plans to push for its release next week.</s>
• The House Intelligence Committee released a declassified and controversial memo that claims the FBI and Department of Justice abused their surveillance authority by targeting a former Trump campaign aide.
• Drawing on a frequent Republican talking point, the memo also raises questions about the Trump-Russia dossier, which details alleged collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia.
• "A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves," Trump said after he signed off on the memo's release.

The House Intelligence Committee on Friday released a highly controversial memo authored by chairman Devin Nunes after President Donald Trump authorized its declassification.

The memo claims, among other things, that several top officials at the Justice Department and the FBI acted improperly when they signed off on applications seeking extended surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

"The brave and assiduous oversight by Congressional leaders in discovering this unprecedented abuse of process represents a giant, historic leap in the repair of America's democracy," Page said in a statement to Business Insider. "Now that a few of the misdeeds against the Trump Movement have been partially revealed, I look forward to updating my pending legal action in opposition to DOJ this weekend in preparation for Monday's next small step on the long, potholed road toward helping to restore law and order in our great country."

Nunes' memo also raises several questions about the Steele dossier, an explosive collection of memos compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, which details Trump's and his associates' alleged ties to Russia.

The dossier was initially funded by anti-Trump Republicans. Democrats took over funding after Trump won the Republican nomination in 2016. The Washington Post reported last year that Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee hired the Perkins Coie law firm, which in turn retained the opposition-research firm Fusion GPS to fund production of the dossier.

"President Trump has approved the declassification of the document in full, and it has been transmitted to the minority and majority of the House Intel Committee," Raj Shah, a White House spokesman, said, adding that the White House did not request any redactions to the memo.

Addressing the memo's release on Friday, Trump said, "A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves."

"I think it's a disgrace what's happening in our country," he said, adding that the memo had been sent to the committee.

Republicans are likely to use the memo to contend that deputy US attorney general Rod Rosenstein — shortly after taking office last spring — acted improperly in approving an application to extend counterintelligence surveillance of Page that was partly based on dubious research funded by Democratic organizations, The New York Times reported last weekend.

Asked on Friday whether the memo affected his confidence in Rosenstein or increased the likelihood that he would oust him, Trump replied, "You figure that one out."

Rosenstein oversees the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 US election and whether members of Trump's campaign colluded with Moscow to tilt the election in his favor. Mueller is also examining whether Trump sought to obstruct justice when he fired James Comey as FBI director in May.

If Trump were to fire Rosenstein, Rachel Brand, the associate attorney general, would assume oversight of the Russia investigation.

Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

The so-called Nunes memo and its release have sparked a firestorm on Capitol Hill and within the intelligence community.

Republicans said they wanted to release the document to promote transparency and hold law enforcement accountable, but Democrats characterized it as a thinly veiled attempt to distract the public and discredit the agencies investigating the president and his associates.

Top officials in intelligence and law enforcement had cautioned against the memo's release.

FBI Director Christopher Wray and Rosenstein met on Monday with the White House chief of staff, John Kelly, to argue against releasing the memo, saying the document contained several inaccuracies and that releasing it could expose sources and methods, The Washington Post reported earlier Friday.

When Kelly didn't budge, Wray again called him on Monday night but was unsuccessful, The Post said, citing administration officials.

The next day, at least five FBI officials traveled to the White House to speak with Kelly about the memo, the report said. Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, had also cautioned the chief of staff against releasing the document.

The Justice Department, meanwhile, had said it would be "extraordinarily reckless" for the House Intelligence Committee to approve the memo's release without giving the department enough time to review it and advise lawmakers about national-security implications.

The FBI also weighed in, saying in a rare statement on Wednesday that it had been "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," the statement said.

Democrats said they had prepared a document to rebut many of the claims in the memo, but Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee had not approved its release.

CBS News reported on Thursday that Wray — who has mostly expressed reservations about the memo behind closed doors — was prepared to publicly issue a rebuttal.</s>President Donald Trump continues to tell his associates he believes the highly controversial Republican memo alleging the FBI abused its surveillance tools could help discredit the Russia investigation, multiple sources familiar with White House discussions said.

In recent phone calls, Trump has told friends he believes the memo would expose bias within the agency's top ranks and make it easier for him to argue the Russia investigations are prejudiced against him, according to two sources.

As the debate rages about whether the GOP memo is inaccurate and misleading -- and whether it's appropriate to reveal such classified intelligence at all -- Trump appears to be more preoccupied with the political calculus. He views the memo as proof the intelligence community was unfairly targeting him and fodder for his ultimate goal of bringing an end to the Russia investigation that he has dubbed a "witch hunt," sources said.

White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah denied that the purpose of releasing the memo was to undermine the Mueller probe and insisted that the White House is simply playing their role in a process initiated by Congress.

"No, the purpose is transparency," Shah said, when asked by CNN about the effect on the Mueller investigation. "This is a legislative process, they have initiated it. We are only following through on our role throughout the House rules."

Shah would not say if the President has made a decision.

"We're committee to this process. He's going to take input from both legal and national security voices," Shah said. "When he makes a decision, we'll make it public."

The President continues to seethe over the Justice Department's handling of nearly everything Russia-related, sources said. Recently, much of that anger has been directed toward his Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller and the Russia investigation.

But on Wednesday Trump was also upset in the wake of the FBI's statement challenging the release of the controversial memo crafted by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, led by Chairman Devin Nunes, a Trump ally.

The FBI's harshly worded statement was a rare public rebuke, all the more stinging now that the bureau is led by Director Chris Wray, who Trump handpicked after he fired James Comey last May.

In condemning the four-page memo that alleges surveillance abuses on behalf of the FBI and Justice Department, the FBI said, "we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy."

This follows a Justice Department statement that warned releasing the memo "would be extraordinarily reckless."

The FBI's statement was issued just hours after the President made clear he wanted the document public.

White House aides and advisers expect a decision from Trump on whether to release the controversial memo on Thursday, an official tells CNN, but the President has already made clear he is inclined to approve the document's release.

If Trump decides to release the document on Thursday, it isn't certain that the document will be published shortly thereafter, the official said. The White House and House Republicans on the Intelligence committee could decide to release the document at a later date, the official added, even though many have said they want the memo out as quickly as possible.

People familiar with the President's thinking say the fate of Rosenstein remains in question amid the expected release of the Nunes memo.

One person suggested if Rosenstein merely submitted an application to renew a FISA warrant (one granted under previous leadership and based, in part, on information from the infamous Steele dossier) that probably wouldn't be a damning enough revelation for Trump to move to fire Rosenstein.

But another person said Trump is so frustrated with the Russia investigation and, in turn, Rosenstein that he may look for any opportunity to build a case for Rosenstein's firing. He could argue that Rosenstein failed to scrutinize the information initially used to request the warrant and therefore didn't do his due diligence.

These discussions are ongoing within the White House, one of the sources said.

Another source familiar with White House discussions said they would be "stunned" if anything happens to Rosenstein even though he's not a Trump favorite.

As CNN has previously reported, the President has vented recently about wanting to fire Rosenstein. But for now, it remains unclear whether he's willing to take such an extraordinary step, particularly given the backlash he faced after dismissing Comey.

Trump's top aides have been posturing on the memo ever since the committee voted to approve the document's release on Monday. Officials have been unable to say whether anyone inside the White House worked with Nunes or House Republicans on the document.

After the House committee voted down party lines to release the document, the memo was couriered to the White House on Monday evening and an interagency review process began on the contents of the controversial memo.

That review -- led by the White House counsel's office and coordinated by the National Security Council -- is ongoing, the official said.

Republicans, especially those closely aligned with Trump in the House, have argued the memo must be released because it details abuse of power by law enforcement officials. But Democrats have said that memo is nothing more than an attempt by Nunes -- who was a member of the executive committee leading Trump presidential transition team -- and other Republicans to undercut special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

CNN's Gloria Borger and Abby Phillip contributed to this report.</s>(CNN) Democrats challenging California Rep. Devin Nunes for his House seat have seen some benefit to the House Intelligence Committee memo alleging the FBI misused its surveillance authority.

The leading Democratic candidate hoping to unseat the Republican chairman of the committee has raised more than $100,000 in campaign donations.

Since Nunes' classified memo was released on Friday, the campaign for California prosecutor Andrew Janz has raised $130,379 and is just shy of 4,000 individual contributions.

Janz's campaign manager, Heather Greven, told CNN that Nunes is doing the campaign a big favor. The campaign has raised more in the past eight days than since Janz announced his candidacy back in April, according to Greven.

The campaign also released a digital ad Thursday night attacking the Republican memo and Nunes' involvement in drafting it and pushing for its release.

As chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Nunes spearheaded the GOP memo, which was made public Friday by the committee with the approval of President Donald Trump.

Democrats have called the memo misleading and politically motivated, arguing that it omits key information from the underlying intelligence it's based on.

"There was a lot of hype and there wasn't really any substance to the memo," Janz said in an interview Saturday with CNN. He added that people in his district have been concerned about how the memo could affect special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

Janz said he hopes the Democrats release their own memo to rebut the GOP's document.

"It's important to provide context to what Devin (Nunes) has released," Janz said. "It's important for the American people to get a full picture so they can reach their own conclusions about how well the FBI is doing their job."

Nunes, who has served in Congress since 2003, is being challenged by six Democratic candidates, a Libertarian candidate, and an American Solidarity Party candidate in the 22nd Congressional District race, which includes Fresno.

Another Democrat in the race, businessman Ricardo Franco, told CNN that his campaign has seen a relatively big increase in donations over the last week, with $3,000 coming in on Saturday. Campaign disclosures show he raised about $24,000 since announcing his bid last year.

"Concerned Americans, many who don't live in the district, have visited (the campaign page) to make campaign donations once the Nunes memo was released," Franco said in an email to CNN.

Janz, who said he'll come to Washington to rid politics of dark money and focus on health care and clean water issues for his district, is leading the Democratic field in raising money.

But if he wins the June primary, Janz could face difficult odds against Nunes in the November election. Nunes was easily reelected in 2016, winning just more than 67% of the vote.

Nunes' campaign also ended the year with nearly $4 million cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Janz, the son of immigrant parents, said he also wants comprehensive immigration legislation and for Dreamers not to be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Trump, who has pushed for border wall funding.

"At the end of the day, I think that members of Congress need to sit down and get this done," Janz said. "I think if they can't, we need new leadership and I'm talking about new leadership on both sides."

He added, "I think with this being a potential wave election, we're going to be able to usher in a new generation of leadership in Washington, and I hope to be a part of that."</s>WASHINGTON — President Trump is expected to approve the release of a controversial congressional memo alleging surveillance abuses by the FBI, after the White House agreed to some redactions, and the document is likely to be made public Friday by House Republicans, according to senior administration officials.

The redactions were the result of a review of the memo's classified contents by White House and intelligence community officials. The memo, which has created a political firestorm, suggests that the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election were tainted by political bias.

It alleges that the FBI, when obtaining a surveillance warrant, relied in some part on a dossier of allegations against then-candidate Donald Trump that was underwritten by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Trump has read the GOP memo, the administration officials said, and once he formally approves its release, the White House will transmit it to the House Intelligence Committee, which has the authority to make it public.

On Wednesday, the FBI issued a rare, unsigned statement citing its concerns with the accuracy of the memo, but officials there do not think its disclosure will lead to a direct confrontation between Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray, according to current and former law enforcement officials. The officials noted that the bureau's statement specifically excluded the director's name as a way of signaling that he does not intend to stake his job on the issue.

Thomas O'Connor, president of the FBI Agents Association, issued a statement Thursday supporting Wray. It says the group appreciates his “standing shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the FBI as we work together to protect our country from criminal and national security threats.”

Among current and former law enforcement officials, however, there is concern about the future of Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general overseeing the Russia investigation led by Mueller. Rosenstein is named in the Republican memo, according to people familiar with it, because he approved a request early last year to reauthorize surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser.

The president has expressed a desire to get rid of Rosenstein, which would allow him to appoint a new official to oversee Mueller, according to people familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The president 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 people familiar with the matter said.

The four-page memo was written by Republican staffers of the House Intelligence Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. It alleges that the British former spy who wrote the dossier, which claims Trump has ties to the Kremlin, passed bad information to the FBI and suggests that that information was used in the application to conduct surveillance on the former campaign adviser, Carter Page, according to people familiar with the document.

As lawmakers await the memo's release, congressional leaders are intensifying their partisan fight over its publication. The top two Democrats in Congress called on House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Thursday to remove Nunes as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Nunes had turned the panel's proceedings into a “charade” and a “cover-up campaign ... to hide the truth about the Trump-Russia scandal,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Calif., wrote in a letter to Ryan.

Ryan defended Nunes, accusing Democrats of trying to “sidetrack us with some political game” and stressing that the memo's scrutiny of the FBI “does not implicate” Mueller or Rosenstein.

If federal agents “brought bias or cut corners or did something wrong,” the public needs to know, Ryan said, citing concerns about the Justice Department “violating American civil liberties.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., appearing with Ryan, also told reporters he thinks Nunes is “handling this just right.”

But not all congressional Republicans agree.

John Thune, S.D., the Senate's No. 3 Republican, said Thursday that the memo should not be made public until the Senate Intelligence Committee is able to review it.

“I think they have to take into consideration what the FBI is saying,” Thune said. “They need to pay careful attention to what our folks who protect us have to say about how this bears on our national security.”

Former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Trump, tweeted Thursday evening about the FBI statement: “All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. But take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.”

Shortly before the House Intelligence Committee voted Monday night to make the memo public, Nunes rejected Democrats' pleas to have FBI and Justice Department officials brief House members about their concerns with the memo, arguing that both entities had “been under investigation by this committee for many, many months, for FISA abuse and other matters.”

The comments by Nunes, according to a newly released transcript of the meeting, surprised Democrats, who accused him of coordinating the memo's release with the White House. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act governs the secret court that reviews and sanctions surveillance requests from the Justice Department.

The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, Calif., also has accused Nunes of making “material changes” to the document that Republican members voted to make public before passing it on to the White House for Trump's review.

The document the White House received differs “in key respects,” said a senior committee official. “We have identified five material changes to different parts of the memo, including a modification that appears intended to water down the overall importance of the majority's purported ‘findings,' “ said the official, who did not elaborate.

Schiff thinks those changes are significant enough to render the process by which Trump could allow the release of the memo null and void. Nunes disagreed, and his staff described any changes as minor edits or alternations requested by the FBI and Democrats.</s>WASHINGTON -- The White House on Friday declassified a partisan and bitterly disputed memo on the Russia investigation, clearing the way for House Republicans to release allegations of what they say is FBI misconduct.

The move came over the fierce objections of the FBI and Justice Department, which have said the document prepared by Republicans on the House intelligence committee is inaccurate and missing critical context.

The memo alleges that the FBI abused U.S. government surveillance powers in its investigation into Russian election interference. Trump, who has called the investigation a "witch hunt," has supported the release of the memo in the apparent hopes that it could help undermine the probe being led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Trump, dogged by the unrelenting investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia, lashed out anew Friday at the FBI and Justice Department as politically biased against Republicans.

"The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!" Trump tweeted.

The tweet came as U.S. news coverage was dominated by reports that the FBI and DOJ had objected strenuously to the memo's release. Earlier this week, the FBI declared it had "grave concerns" about its accuracy.

Trump's tweet sets up a clash with the man he picked to lead the FBI, Christopher Wray, after firing James Comey as agency director. It also seemed at odds with House Speaker Paul Ryan who said a day earlier "this memo is not an indictment of the FBI or the Department of Justice."

Democrats say the memo cherry-picks intelligence in an effort to smear law enforcement investigating whether Trump associates collaborated with Russia to sway the 2016 presidential election.

"This is designed to impugn the credibility of the FBI, to undermine the investigation, to give the president additional fodder to attack the investigation. And it's a tremendous disservice to the American people," Rep. Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on CBS "This Morning."

The document was written by GOP lawmakers as part of an effort to reveal what Republicans say are surveillance abuses by the FBI and the Justice Department early in Russia investigation, before special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take it over.

White House officials say Trump intends to clear the way for publication of the memo. One White House official said Congress would probably be informed of Trump's decision Friday, adding that the president was "OK" with its release. A second White House official said Trump was likely to declassify the congressional memo but the precise method for making it public was still being figured out. The officials were not authorized to be quoted about private deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The House intelligence panel voted along party lines Monday to put the memo out, giving Trump five days to reject the release under committee rules. But Trump also has the power to declassify the document himself and either release it or hand it to Congress to release. One of the White House officials said the memo would be in "Congress' hands" after Trump declassified it and there were unlikely to be any redactions to the document.

Senior FBI officials, including Wray, have also made direct appeals to the White House, warning that it could set a dangerous precedent.

Democrats on the intelligence panel made a last-ditch effort Wednesday evening to stop the release, saying the memo had been "secretly altered" by the Republicans who wrote it. In a letter to the House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, Schiff wrote that committee Democrats had discovered changes that were made after the vote Monday.

"The White House has therefore been reviewing a document since Monday night that the committee never approved for public release," Schiff said in the letter.

Schiff asked Nunes for another vote on the memo, but Republicans didn't appear to waver. Nunes spokesman Jack Langer said the committee vote was "procedurally sound."

"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," Langer said.

This all comes as special counsel Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign improperly coordinated with Russia and whether Trump sought to obstruct the inquiry by, among other actions, firing Comey. Republicans have intensified their pressure on the Justice Department as Mueller's probe has moved closer to Trump's inner circle.

Trump has been telling confidants in recent days that he believes the document will validate his concerns that the FBI and Justice Department conspired against him, according to one outside adviser familiar with those conversations but not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions.

The president also has told allies that he believes the memo bolsters his claim that accusations of collusion between his campaign and Russian officials are false and part of a conspiracy to discredit his election.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer are pressing House Speaker Paul Ryan to stop the release.

Comey weighed in on Twitter as well: "All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. But take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy."

Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey, Matthew Daly, Eric Tucker and Jonathan Lemire contributed to this report.</s>Washington (CNN) After days of anticipation, President Donald Trump is expected to signal to the House Intelligence Committee on Friday that he wants a memo written by GOP staffers faulting the FBI over the Russia investigation released.

Republican lawmakers who have seen the memo, drawn from classified sources, say it shows that senior law enforcement officials abused surveillance laws in obtaining a warrant to eavesdrop on Trump campaign foreign policy aide Carter Page.

Trump supporters believe the episode will show that the bureau was biased all along against the President, think it reveals corruption at the top of the FBI and believe it will ultimately cast doubt on the credibility of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Critics say this is nothing more than a coordinated attempt by Trump and allies on Capitol Hill to selectively misuse intelligence to malign Mueller's investigation and to give a pretext to remove senior officials overseeing the probe. The showdown, meanwhile, between Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray over the memo has dragged the incessantly simmering tension between the White House and national security institutions back into the open.

Here are five questions that may be answered once the report is released.

Senior White House officials fear that Wray could quit if the memo is released over his vehement, and unusually public, objections, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation tell CNN.

If that were to happen, Trump would have effectively forced out his second FBI director over political differences, after removing James Comey last year. The post is supposed to carry a 10-year term to shield its holder from the political fray.

Were Wray to go, it would presumably be on the grounds that he has lost the confidence of the President who appointed him, since his advice, and pleadings, would have been disregarded on an issue of national security. Another rationale for him to quit might be to highlight an attempt by Trump to politicize the FBI and the case he is making that the nation's premier law enforcement agency, charged with keeping Americans safe from terror, is corrupt.

Alternatively, having made a stand, Wray might reason that the memo, essentially a political document, is not the issue on which to resign, given the likely future confrontations between the bureau and the White House that could center on even more serious matters. Another reason for Wray to stay is that if he goes, the President could seek to insert a more pliable replacement.

Will the memo live up to the hype?

After days of blaring news coverage, leaks and hints from lawmakers who have seen the memo, there must be some concern that the public release of the document will fall flat and not have the explosive impact that Trump allies hope.

Other Republicans have less expansive yet significant concerns, arguing that the memo will show that top FBI officials erred.

"There's a problem with several people in some of the highest levels in the bureau and that needs to be investigated, and the American people need to understand why," Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told reporters.

But given the expectations around the document -- not least because of the warnings about its content by the FBI and Democrats, it will have to contain some stunning disclosures to justify the buildup. If the wow factor is not there, it could quickly fade as a political issue. Another danger for Trump and his supporters is that the days of ventilating could actually undercut his claims that the FBI is corrupt, if the memo fails to deliver.

In a potential warning sign for the President, House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday appeared to indicate the memo could fall well short of Trump's hopes.

"This memo is not an indictment of the FBI, of the Department of Justice. It does not impugn the Mueller investigation or the deputy attorney general," the Wisconsin Republican told reporters at a GOP retreat in West Virginia.

Does the memo damage Mueller or Rosenstein?

Democrats believe the memo has one purpose: to undermine Mueller.

"It was our assumption all along that their path here was to discredit the Mueller investigation," Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN on Thursday.

Another theory is that the release of the memo could also give the Republicans a pretext to attack and possibly remove Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Mueller probe because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself, much to Trump's fury.

Rosenstein renewed the warrant against Page, so he could find himself exposed to attacks by Trump allies, even though he appears to have been simply doing his job.

Should Trump remove Rosenstein, he may pick a replacement who might be more amenable to undermining the Mueller probe, assuming that person could be confirmed by the Senate.

Does the memo furor have political legs?

The investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice and his campaign aides colluded with Russia is a legal proceeding. But its ultimate fate will end up being a political question, especially if Mueller finds conduct that he believes merits a referral to Congress for possible impeachment proceedings.

So the larger story of the last few days is not just a tussle over the memo, it's about the wider issue of whether its release will change the political terrain. It's already clear that the President and his cheerleaders in conservative media are leveling searing attacks against the FBI, Justice Department professionals and the special counsel in order to shape political opinion among Republican grassroots voters -- that would weigh on GOP lawmakers should they be called upon to consider whether to open an impeachment process.

Generally, when Trump takes stands that target the establishment in Washington, he pleases his loyal base of voters, who voted precisely for the kind of disruption he is engineering in this episode.

Yet the spectacle of the President apparently politicizing the justice system, feuding openly with the FBI director and straining at the limits of his powers also gives Democrats yet more ammunition to build a case against Trump and stir engagement among their voters in the midterm elections.

Given the tempestuous times, however, it's just as likely that when voters trek to polling places in November, the memo furor will be just another incident in the age of Trump that is superseded by newer political storms.

What is the long-term damage?

While the political fallout from the memo feud may be short-lived, the long-term damage from the constant state of warfare to some of the nation's most critical institutions may not be. One fears that public trust in the FBI will be badly undermined by a President who has said its credibility is in "tatters."

The role of the House Intelligence Committee, under California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes, apparently working hand in glove with the White House against the FBI and the Justice Department, raises serious questions, meanwhile, about the constitutional separation of powers and the role of the panel in conducting oversight of intelligence operations.

The standoff over the memo also raises fresh doubts over whether House Republicans are prepared to take any eventual recommendations by Mueller seriously and hold the President to account if necessary.

"What we are seeing is a coordinated attack by two branches of our government on the independence of the FBI. We have never seen this before," said CNN presidential historian Timothy Naftali.

"This should be a matter of grave concern for every American. This is a test whether in this country we can have an independent investigation of the powerful when the powerful are not happy about it," Naftali said on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront."</s>White House officials are concerned that FBI director Christopher Wray will quit if a GOP-penned memo that alleges bias at the bureau is released, according to a report on Thursday.

President Trump has read and been briefed on the memo, and the White House is considering whether there should be any redactions, senior administration officials said.

Wray, Trump’s hand-picked replacement for the fired James Comey, voiced his opposition to the release of the four-page document with a sharply-worded statement from the FBI expressing “grave concerns” about its accuracy.

Wray has not directly threatened to resign, but he has made clear he is frustrated with the White House’s stance on the memo, according to CNN.

Peter King says FBI stress over memo based on 'invalid concerns'

The document reportedly contains evidence of anti-Trump bias in the FBI and abuses of surveillance warrants used to spy on members of the Trump campaign team.

The classified report has caused chaos on Capitol Hill as Democrats called for the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee to be removed over the memo.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) took “deliberately dishonest actions” by altering the document after presenting it to the White House.

She added that Nunes’ actions “make him unfit to serve as chairman.”

House republicans are trying to “sow conspiracy theories and attack the integrity and credibility of federal law enforcement as a means to protect President Trump and undermine the work of Special Counsel Mueller,” Schumer wrote to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Sen. John Thune(R-S.D.) also cautioned Nunes about releasing the memo, saying that it should first be shared with the Senate Intelligence Committee

“There are important national security considerations they need to weigh, and hopefully they’re doing that,” he said.

Trump asked Rosenstein if they're on same 'team' in Russia probe

Trump, meanwhile, has told associates that he believes the memo could help discredit Mueller’s investigation into his campaign’s possible connections to Russian election interference.

He was overheard telling a Republican lawmaker at Tuesday’s State of the Union address that he will “100%” release it.

According to recent reports, Wray made similar threats to step down after being pressured by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire deputy director Andrew McCabe, whom Trump viewed as a Comey ally.

Democrats and Department of Justice officials say the GOP memo “cherry-picks” information from a much longer application to the FISA court.

Those documents typically run 50 to 60 pages, officials said.

Further complicating the release, the senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee said late Wednesday that the vote to make the memo public was invalid because the document was “secretly altered” by Republicans.

Nunes fired back at the FBI and Department of Justice on Wednesday for what he called “spurious objections” to the release.

“Having stonewalled Congress’ demands for information for nearly a year, it’s no surprise to see the FBI and DOJ issue spurious objections to allowing the American people to see information related to surveillance abuses at these agencies,” he said.

Nunes, who became the chairman of the intelligence committee in 2015, has repeatedly faced accusations of bias for his close ties to the White House.

He was a member of Trump’s transition team and initially pushed back against calls for a House investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
The document is released through the House Intelligence Committee's website. Opinions on the memo were largely mixed, with Democrats, some Republicans and several national security experts suggesting that certain details in the document confirm prior reports surrounding the reasoning for the FBI's decision to conduct the investigation. Critics of the memo suggested that its release was a partisan attempt to undermine and discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible ties between Trump's presidential campaign and Russian intelligence associates, and posed a risk to national security .