House Intelligence Committee Votes to Release the FBI Memo

The House Intelligence Committee voted Monday to release a classified memo to the public detailing alleged abuse by senior Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigations officials in their investigation of the Trump campaign.

The committee voted on a party line — all 13 Republicans for and all nine Democrats against, according to the Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CA), who gave a press conference after the decision.

*President Trump now has five days to approve the memo’s release to the public, or object to it, per a review process.*

The committee voted on a party line, according to the Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CA), who gave a press conference after the decision.

President Trump now has five days to object to it. White House lawyer Ty Cobb told Politico in a statement:

“No decision will be made on the release unless and until the Congress, after the required vote, provides it to the White House.

…

“There it will be subjected to appropriate and serious review before a decision is made. The President strongly favors transparency for the American people and has urged the Executive Branch to cooperate with Congress to the fullest extent appropriate.”

The memo reportedly details — among other things — how senior officials abused FISA to obtain a surveillance warrant on Trump foreign policy campaign adviser Carter Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The memo reportedly will show that the senior DOJ and FBI officials did reveal to the secret court that grants FISA warrants that the dossier was a political document.

Democrats on the committee have drafted their own counter-memo and sought a vote to have it released to the public at the same time as the other memo.

The committee rejected releasing the Democratic memo to the public, but approved releasing it to House members, as was the procedure with the FISA memo. The committee could later vote to make that memo public as well.