Nunes memo latest: Controversial report released by House committee after Donald Trump gives approval

A controversial memo alleging wrongdoing by the FBI in its Russia investigation has been declassified and released to the public – intensifying a battle that has pitched the White House against both the agency and the Justice Department.

The memo, written by Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, raises concerns about the FBI’s securing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant as part of the investigation into possible ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. The memo claims the FBI and Justice Department’s actions in obtaining the warrant against former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page ”represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process”.

President Trump allowed the House Intelligence Committee to release the report to the public on Friday without redactions. The president, who tweeted that morning that the FBI had “politicized the sacred investigative process,” called the contents of the memo “a disgrace”.

While many Republicans in Congress supported the release of the memo, Democrats claimed it represents an attempt to discredit the federal investigation by using “cherry-picked” classified information – one which would set a dangerous precedent that would do “long-term damage” to the US intelligence community.

Both the Justice Department and the FBI objected to the release of the memo, with the FBI releasing a statement on Wednesday detailing "grave concerns" over its accuracy.

Congressional Democrats sent a letter to Mr Trump on Friday warning him against using the memo as a “pretext” to fire either Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the investigation, or Special Counsel Robert Mueller who is leading it.

“Firing Rod Rosenstein, [Department of Justice] leadership, or Bob Mueller could result in a constitutional crisis of the kind not seen since the Saturday night massacre,” the Democrats wrote, referring to Richard Nixon’s firing of the Watergate special prosecutor in the 1970s.

Mr Trump declined to say whether he still had faith in faith in Mr Rosenstein when asked on Friday, saying: “You figure that one out.” He added that ”a lot of people should be ashamed” of the allegations made in the memo. Seemingly trying to limit the damage from such remarks, White House officials later briefed that Mr Trump is not considering firing Mr Rosenstein.

Much of the memo concerns the process by which the FBI obtained a FISA warrant to surveil Mr Page, claiming the warrant application was informed largely by a Democrat-funded opposition research dossier compiled by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele.

The memo alleges that then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the Intelligence Committee that the surveillance warrant would not have been sought without this controversial dossier – going further to say that the Mr Steele had already disclosed his anti-Trump bias to the FBI.

Mr Page called the memo an example of “brave and assiduous oversight,” and said he would be updating his pending legal action against the Justice Department.

The memo also briefly mentions texts between an FBI agent and lawyer who worked on the bureau’s investigation into possible Trump campaign ties to Russia. The memo claims the texts demonstrate “clear bias” against Mr Trump and in favour of Hillary Clinton.

However, the memo appears to fall short of the promises made by some Republicans – namely that the evidence it contained would cast doubt on the origins of the Russia investigation. Much of the information it contained involved allegations Mr Nunes and others had previously made public. Democrats also point out that Australian officials told the FBI about another Trump campaign official, George Papadopoulos, had possible knowledge about Russia’s activities. The memo itself states that information about Mr Papadopoulos ”triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016.”

In a statement after the release of the memo, Mr Nunes said: “The Committee has discovered serious violations of the public trust, and the American people have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes.” He added that he hoped the memo’s release would “shine a light on the alarming series of events”.

Republicans and Democrats have fiercely debated the release of the memo since last month, when Mr Nunes made it available to members of the House. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, claimed the memo “mischaracterises highly sensitive classified information” in order to suit Republicans’ political aims.

“Chairman Nunes’ decision ... to publicly release misleading allegations against the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation is a shameful effort to discredit these institutions, undermine [special counsel Robert Mueller’s] ongoing investigation, and undercut congressional probes,” Mr Schiff said.

The congressman claimed the FISA warrant to surveil Mr Page had been properly obtained, and was not based entirely on the Steele dossier. He added that Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee would seek a vote to release their own memo, which he claimed pointed out several other factual errors in Mr Nunes’s.

Democratic leaders sent a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan earlier this week claiming Mr Nunes’s actions were “illegitimate” and “dangerous,” and asking him Mr Ryan to remove the chairman from his role.

But Mr Ryan said on Friday that he supported the release of the memo, claiming it showed a possible violation of civil rights. He said he would also support the release of the Democrats’ response document, once sensitive details had been removed.

The White House later said in a statement that the so-called Nunes memo “raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI to use the Government’s most intrusive surveillance tools against American citizens.”

“This decision was made with input from the President’s national security team — including law enforcement officials and members of the intelligence community, for whom the President has great respect,” the White House added.

It also signalled that Mr Trump would back the release of the Democrat memo, saying the White House was ready to work with Congress to accommodate “oversight requests” on the second memo.

At least one Republican criticised the decision to release the memo, accusing his party of attacking the FBI and Justice Department.

“Our nation’s elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows,” Senator John McCain said. ”If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing [Russian President Valdimir] Putin’s job for him.”

Mr Trump has not signalled what, if any, other steps he will take in response to the memo.

“Congress will do whatever they’re going to do,” he said on Friday. “...Let’s see what happens.”