Washington - The White House was working on
Thursday to clear the release of a Republican memo alleging bias
within the FBI and Justice Department against President Donald
Trump as they investigated contacts between his 2016
presidential campaign and Russia, according to an administration
official.
Here is what is in play:
WHAT IS THE MEMO?
The four-page classified document was commissioned by
Representative Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House
of Representatives Intelligence Committee, and written by
committee Republicans. According to sources familiar with it,
the memo accuses the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Justice
Department of misleading a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court judge last March as they sought to extend an eavesdropping
warrant against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, an oil
industry consultant with numerous contacts in Russia. It also
accuses the law enforcement agencies of failing to tell the
judge that the warrant request was based on a dossier of alleged
Trump-Russia contacts compiled by former British spy Christopher
Steele in work partly financed by the Democratic National
Committee.
Steele's dossier contains a number of inflammatory and
salacious allegations about Trump and his alleged connections to
Russia. Trump has slammed the dossier as "bogus" and denies his
campaign colluded with Russia. Some of Trump's fellow
Republicans in Congress have focused heavily on the dossier and
its DNC ties, as well as U.S. surveillance of Trump associates
while Democrat Barack Obama was still president, arguing that
Democrats instead should be the focus of federal and
congressional investigations.
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Democrats say the memo could be used by Republicans to try
to undermine the credibility of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's
investigation into possible collusion between Trump's
presidential campaign and Russia to help him win the 2016
election. Mueller's investigation also is examining whether
Trump has committed obstruction of justice by trying to thwart
the Russia probe that potentially threatens his year-old
presidency. Democrats say Trump's allies hope to use the memo to
protect Trump, possibly giving the president, who fired FBI
Director James Comey in May, an excuse to fire Deputy U.S.
Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who hired Mueller, or even
Mueller himself.
WHAT ARE OTHER POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF THE MEMO'S RELEASE?
The release can be expected to widen the divide between
Democrats and Republicans, possibly diminishing the credibility
of any congressional findings on the Russia matter.
The release could weaken long-standing cooperation between
lawmakers and intelligence agencies, which have shared
classified information with Congress with the understanding that
it would never be made public. The FBI said it had "grave
concerns" about the accuracy of the Republican memo. Justice
Department officials have said its release could jeopardise
classified information.
WHAT ROLE DOES THE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE PLAY?
The House intelligence committee is one of three
congressional panels investigating Russia, Trump and the 2016
U.S. election, even as Mueller pursues his criminal probe. The
dispute over the memo has deepened a bitter partisan divide on
the committee, whose Democrats accuse Republicans of seeking to
focus on the Steele dossier and Page surveillance to protect
Trump. Republicans say they merely want to publicise wrongdoing.
Committee Democrats wrote their own memo countering the
Republican one, but committee Republicans voted to prevent its
release.