Why Washington is inflamed over Russia probe memo

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., joined at left by Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., answers questions at a news conference as he defends a vote by Republicans on the House intelligence committee to release a classified memo on the Russia investigation. Picture: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., joined at left by Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., answers questions at a news conference as he defends a vote by Republicans on the House intelligence committee to release a classified memo on the Russia investigation. Picture: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Published Feb 1, 2018

Share

Washington - The White House was working on

Thursday to clear the release of a Republican memo alleging bias

within the FBI and Justice Department against President Donald

Trump as they investigated contacts between his 2016

presidential campaign and Russia, according to an administration

official.

Here is what is in play:

WHAT IS THE MEMO?

The four-page classified document was commissioned by

Representative Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House

of Representatives Intelligence Committee, and written by

committee Republicans. According to sources familiar with it,

the memo accuses the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Justice

Department of misleading a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance

Court judge last March as they sought to extend an eavesdropping

warrant against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, an oil

industry consultant with numerous contacts in Russia. It also

accuses the law enforcement agencies of failing to tell the

judge that the warrant request was based on a dossier of alleged

Trump-Russia contacts compiled by former British spy Christopher

Steele in work partly financed by the Democratic National

Committee.

Steele's dossier contains a number of inflammatory and

salacious allegations about Trump and his alleged connections to

Russia. Trump has slammed the dossier as "bogus" and denies his

campaign colluded with Russia. Some of Trump's fellow

Republicans in Congress have focused heavily on the dossier and

its DNC ties, as well as U.S. surveillance of Trump associates

while Democrat Barack Obama was still president, arguing that

Democrats instead should be the focus of federal and

congressional investigations.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Democrats say the memo could be used by Republicans to try

to undermine the credibility of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's

investigation into possible collusion between Trump's

presidential campaign and Russia to help him win the 2016

election. Mueller's investigation also is examining whether

Trump has committed obstruction of justice by trying to thwart

the Russia probe that potentially threatens his year-old

presidency. Democrats say Trump's allies hope to use the memo to

protect Trump, possibly giving the president, who fired FBI

Director James Comey in May, an excuse to fire Deputy U.S.

Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who hired Mueller, or even

Mueller himself.

WHAT ARE OTHER POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF THE MEMO'S RELEASE?

The release can be expected to widen the divide between

Democrats and Republicans, possibly diminishing the credibility

of any congressional findings on the Russia matter.

The release could weaken long-standing cooperation between

lawmakers and intelligence agencies, which have shared

classified information with Congress with the understanding that

it would never be made public. The FBI said it had "grave

concerns" about the accuracy of the Republican memo. Justice

Department officials have said its release could jeopardise

classified information.

WHAT ROLE DOES THE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE PLAY?

The House intelligence committee is one of three

congressional panels investigating Russia, Trump and the 2016

U.S. election, even as Mueller pursues his criminal probe. The

dispute over the memo has deepened a bitter partisan divide on

the committee, whose Democrats accuse Republicans of seeking to

focus on the Steele dossier and Page surveillance to protect

Trump. Republicans say they merely want to publicise wrongdoing.

Committee Democrats wrote their own memo countering the

Republican one, but committee Republicans voted to prevent its

release.

AP

Related Topics:

trump