FBI: 'Grave Concerns' About Accuracy of Classified Russia-Linked Surveillance Memo

WASHINGTON — 

The FBI said Wednesday it has "grave concerns" about the accuracy of a classified memo crafted by Republican lawmakers that allegedly shows bias at the Justice Department against U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had "a limited opportunity" to review the four-page memo before the Republican majority on the House Intelligence Committee voted earlier this week to release it, pending a review by Trump.

The U.S. leader has not released it yet, but in a conversation picked up by a television camera after his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Trump told a congressman that he was "100 percent" in favor of its disclosure. The White House had said before the speech that the memo was under review and that Trump had yet to be briefed on it.

The memo concerns an application by U.S. law enforcement authorities to the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor contacts Trump campaign adviser Carter Page may have had with Russian operatives leading up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Some Republicans say the surveillance request may have been mishandled and could undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the election.

Numerous concerns

The FBI said in a statement that earlier this week it told the Intelligence panel, before it voted, that "we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy."

The FBI, the county's top law enforcement agency, said it "takes seriously its obligations to the FISA Court and its compliance with procedures overseen by career professionals in the Department of Justice and the FBI. We are committed to working with the appropriate oversight entities to ensure the continuing integrity of the FISA process."

The FBI is the latest entity to voice concerns about the memo. Two Justice Department officials, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd, have both raised concerns about the memo's content.

Boyd, in a letter to Congressman Devin Nunes, the chairman of the Intelligence panel, said the Republican push to release a memo would be "extraordinarily reckless."

Rosenstein warned White House Chief of Staff John Kelly that releasing the memo put classified information at risk and beseeched the president to withdraw his support for making it public. According to The Washington Post, FBI Director Christopher Wray was with Rosenstein at the White House meeting earlier this week.

Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller's Russia probe, reportedly told the White House his department was not convinced the memo accurately describes how the FBI conducts investigations. He warned that making the document public could set a dangerous precedent.

Defending the memo

On Tuesday, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan defended release of the memo, saying, "There are legitimate questions about whether an American's civil liberties were violated" as authorities sought to monitor contacts Page may have had with the Russian operatives.

"There may have been malfeasance at the FBI by certain individuals," Ryan said.

But even as he called for release of the memo, Ryan warned his Republican colleagues in the House to not oversell the information in the memo as a means to derail Mueller's ongoing investigation of Russian meddling in the election. Mueller is also probing whether Trump obstructed justice by firing James Comey, the former FBI director who was heading the agency's Russia investigation before Mueller, over Trump's objections, was appointed to take over the probe.

Ryan said the need for "transparency" dictates the need to release the memo, but Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee say the Republican-drafted document is misleading. The memo was crafted by Nunes.

The memo has become a flashpoint in politically divided Washington, with some Republicans increasingly voicing complaints about Mueller's months-long investigation and claiming that some Justice Department officials have worked to undermine Trump's presidency.

Trump has repeatedly said there was "no collusion" between his campaign and Russia and last week said there also was "no obstruction" of the Russia investigation.

VOA's Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.

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