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A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 1 February 2018
FBI says it has “grave concerns” over release of Russia memo

By CHAD DAY, JONATHAN sure our intelligence agen-
LEMIRE and ERIC TUCKER cies and courts are never
Associated Press misused like this again.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump was overheard Tues-
FBI said Wednesday it has day night telling a Republi-
“grave concerns” about can lawmaker he was “100
the accuracy of a classi- percent” in favor of releas-
fied memo on the Russia ing the memo, and his chief
investigation that President of staff said Wednesday
Donald Trump wants to re- the document is likely to be
lease to the public. It was released “pretty quick.”
the first time the bureau has The encounter on the
weighed in publicly on an House floor with South
issue that has openly divid- Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan
ed the Justice Department was captured by television
and the White House. cameras after the State of
In its unusual public state- the Union address. When
ment, the FBI said it was Duncan implored him to
given only a limited oppor- “release the memo,” Trump
tunity to review the four- said: “Oh yeah, don’t wor-
page memo, which was ry. 100 percent.”
drafted by Republicans White House spokeswoman
on the House intelligence Sarah Huckabee Sanders
committee led by Rep. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., a close ally of President Donald told CNN Wednesday that
Devin Nunes of California. Trump who has become a fierce critic of the FBI and the Justice Department, strides to a GOP a legal and national secu-
Republicans have said the conference at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. rity review of the document
Associated Press was continuing. Trump had
memo reveals improper not read the memo as “as
use of surveillance by the of last night prior to and im-
FBI and the Justice Depart- mediately after the State of
ment in the Russia inves- the Union,” she said.
tigation. But the FBI said White House Chief of Staff
Wednesday that important John Kelly said Wednesday
facts were omitted. on Fox News Radio that he
“As expressed during our expected the memo to be
initial review, we have released “pretty quick.”
grave concerns about ma- According to Republicans,
terial omissions of fact that the memo alleges surveil-
fundamentally impact the lance misconduct in the
memo’s accuracy,” the FBI early stages of the FBI’s in-
said. vestigation into potential
The statement escalates Trump campaign ties to
the intra-government con- Russia.
flict over the memo, which But Democrats have called
had already touched off a the memo a “cherry-
partisan brawl with Demo- picked” list of GOP talking
crats and has pitted GOP points that attempts to dis-
lawmakers ordinarily sup- tract from the committee’s
portive of surveillance own investigation into Rus-
against the FBI and the sian meddling in the elec-
Justice Department. The tion that sent Trump to the
FBI director and the deputy White House.
attorney general have told Trump has been telling
the White House releasing confidants in recent days
it could set a dangerous that he believes the memo
precedent. will validate his concerns
On Wednesday afternoon, that the FBI and Justice De-
Nunes, the Republican partment had conspired
chairman of the commit- against him, according to
tee, escalated the conflict one outside adviser famil-
over the memo, calling iar with those conversa-
the FBI and Justice Depart- tions but not authorized to
ment objections “spurious.” speak publicly about pri-
“It’s clear that top officials vate discussions.
used unverified informa- The president has told allies
tion in a court document to that he believes the memo
fuel a counter-intelligence bolsters his belief that ac-
investigation during an cusations of collusion be-
American political cam- tween his campaign and
paign,” Nunes said. “Once Russian officials are false
the truth gets out, we can and part of a conspiracy to
begin taking steps to en- discredit his election.q