The FBI says it has “grave concerns” about omissions in a classified memo on the Russia investigation that U.S. President Donald Trump wants to release to the public.
The statement Wednesday was the FBI’s first public comment about a four-page memo that was drafted by Republicans on the House intelligence committee and that has divided the Justice Department and White House.
“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,” the agency’s statement read.
The statement comes hours after Trump was overheard in the House of Representatives after delivering his state of the union address telling a Republican lawmaker that he was “100 per cent” in favour of releasing the document.
The House voted on Monday to release the memo in an unprecedented move by the committee, which typically goes out of its way to protect classified information in the interest of protecting intelligence sources and methods.
The memo was written by Republicans on the committee, led by chair representative Devin Nunes of California, a close Trump ally. Nunes was reprimanded last year and accused of improperly sharing classified information with the White House.
#ReleaseTheMemo questions
The Democrats have characterized the move as a brazen attempt to discredit the investigation special counsel Robert Mueller has undertaken. The probe is looking into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election and contacts between members of Trump’s campaign team and Russian officials.
“Today this committee voted to put the president’s personal interests, perhaps their own political interest, above the national interest,” said Democratic congressman Adam Schiff on Monday.
Schiff and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, both from California, on Wednesday asked Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. to answer questions about potential Russian involvement in social media campaigns that urged release of the memorandum.
“We reiterate our request that you immediately take necessary steps to expose and deactivate such accounts if you determine that they violate your respective user policies,” the Democratic lawmakers said in a statement.
At issue is an online campaign, using the hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo.
In its response, released publicly on Wednesday by the lawmakers, Twitter said a preliminary analysis using available geographical data related to the use of the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag did not identify “any significant activity connected to Russia.”
Twitter also said it observed use of the hashtag by high-profile accounts that have a high number of followers, which “plays a role in driving conversations around a hashtag.”
It questioned the findings of an online dashboard maintained by the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a project of the nonpartisan German Marshall Fund think-tank, because the group does not publicly disclose the accounts it tracks. Earlier this month, the alliance found a huge spike in use of the hashtag by Twitter known or suspected to be under Kremlin influence.
Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference is separate from those taking place in both the Senate and House.
Trump has denied the collusion charge, and Vladimir Putin and Russian officials have insisted they didn’t meddle in the election.
Trump has repeatedly publicly criticized the bureau and the Justice Department, unprecedented for a modern president. Andrew McCabe, a frequent target of the president’s ire for perceived bias, stepped down earlier than planned from his role on Monday.
Some of the president’s actions, including his firing last year of FBI director James Comey just four years into a 10-year term, have raised speculation as to whether the special counsel would also potentially investigate obstruction of justice.
The statement Wednesday was signed off on by Christopher Wray, Trump’s choice to succeed Comey.
