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Friday 2 February 2018
Classified Memo
Continued from Front California Rep. Adam Schiff
The House intelligence pan- said in a letter to the House
el voted along party lines
Monday to put the memo Intelligence Committee
out, giving Trump five days
to reject the release under chairman, Republican
committee rules.
But Trump also has the Devin Nunes of California,
power to declassify the
document himself and ei- that committee Democrats
ther release it or hand it to
Congress to release. had discovered changes
One of the White House of-
ficials said the memo would that were made after the
be in “Congress’ hands”
after Trump declassified it vote Monday.
and there were unlikely to
be any redactions to the “The White House has
document.
Trump has said he wants the therefore been reviewing
memo released even after
the FBI declared Wednes- a document since Monday
day that it has “grave con-
cerns” about its accuracy. night that the committee
The document was written
as part of an effort to re- never approved for public
veal what Republicans say
are surveillance abuses by release,” Schiff said in the
the FBI and the Justice De-
partment early in Russia in- letter.
vestigation, before special
counsel Robert Mueller was Schiff asked Nunes for an-
appointed to take it over.
Senior FBI officials have also other vote on the memo,
made direct appeals to
the White House, warning but Republicans didn’t ap-
that it could set a danger-
ous precedent. pear to waver.
Democrats call the memo
an attempt by Republicans Nunes spokesman Jack
to distract attention from
the investigation into Rus- Langer said the commit- Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, arrives to
sian meddling in the elec- speak at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018.
tion that sent Trump to the tee vote was “procedurally
White House. Associated Press
Democrats on the intel- sound.”
ligence panel made a
last-ditch effort Wednes- “To suggest otherwise is one outside adviser famil- not impugn the Mueller in- He also urged the House
day evening to stop the
release, saying it had been a bizarre distraction from iar with those conversations vestigation or the deputy committee to listen to the
“secretly altered” by the
Republicans who wrote it. the abuses detailed in the but not authorized to speak attorney general,” he said, Justice Department, saying
memo, which the public publicly about private dis- referring to Rod Rosenstein, they need to pay attemtion
will hopefully soon be able cussions. who appointed Mueller in to “what our folks who pro-
to read for themselves,” The president also has told May. tect us have to say” about
Langer said. allies that he believes the But Schiff said the oppo- the effects on national se-
This all comes as special memo bolsters his claim site Thursday, asserting curity.
counsel Mueller is investi- that accusations of col- that Trump is looking for a Republican Sen. Jeff Flake
gating whether the Trump lusion between his cam- reason to fire Mueller and of Arizona also questioned
campaign improperly co- paign and Russian officials Rosenstein. the release in a joint state-
ordinated with Russia and are false and part of a con- He said he’s more worried ment with Democratic Sen.
whether Trump sought to spiracy to discredit his elec- about Rosenstein because Chris Coons of Delaware.
obstruct the inquiry by, tion. House Democratic he decides the scope of “The president’s apparent
among other actions, firing Leader Nancy Pelosi and Mueller’s investigation. willingness to release this
Comey. Senate Democratic Leader “The White House knows memo risks undermining
Republicans have intensi- Chuck Schumer are press- it would face a firestorm if U.S. intelligence-gathering
fied their pressure on the ing Speaker Paul Ryan to it fired Bob Mueller,” Schiff efforts, politicizing Con-
Justice Department as stop the release. said. gress’ oversight role, and
Mueller’s probe has moved Ryan charged that the “What’s more effective is to eroding confidence in our
closer to Trump’s inner cir- Democrats were just out fire Bob Mueller’s boss.” institutions of government,”
cle. for political gain, saying the Some Senate Republicans the senators said.
Trump has been telling purpose of the memo is to have also urged caution. Senate Majority Leader
confidants in recent days reveal whether there have South Dakota Sen. John Mitch McConnell deflect-
that he believes the docu- been abuses of surveil- Thune, the No. 3 Senate ed questions about the
ment will validate his con- lance laws. Republican, said the Sen- memo, saying at a press
cerns that the FBI and Jus- “This memo is not an indict- ate intelligence committee conference with Ryan that
tice Department conspired ment of the FBI or the De- hasn’t seen the memo but the speaker is “doing this
against him, according to partment of Justice, it does should before it comes out. just right.”q
Nassar victim who complained in 2004 gets apology from cops
In this Jan. 23, 2018, photo, Brianne Randall-Gay gives her By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER and sar had molested her with police Chief Dave Hall,
victim statement during Larry Nassar’s sentencing at the Ingham ED WHITE ungloved hands when she who called that misstep the
County Circuit Court in Lansing, Mich., Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. Associated Press sought help for her back. “downfall” of the investiga-
MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP, Mich. Officers, however, closed tion.
Associated Press (AP) — A woman whose the case after the Michi- Randall-Gay, who partici-
assault complaint against gan State University sports pated in the news confer-
Larry Nassar was dismissed doctor offered an aggres- ence by video from Wash-
without charges being filed sive defense and insisted ington state, said the pub-
in 2004 accepted an apol- he was using a legitimate lic apology eases her pain
ogy years later Thursday medical technique. but doesn’t “erase the pain
from a Michigan police Police didn’t seek an out- I’ve suffered” since 2004.
chief who said, “We wish side opinion on Nassar’s “I felt like my complaint
we had this one back.” technical explanation. was ignored. I felt like I was
Brianne Randall-Gay was “It should have been ignored,” she recalled.
17 when she told Meridian passed on to another ex-
Township police that Nas- pert and it wasn’t,” said Continued on Page 7
