Trump memo: Ryan plays down impact on Russia inquiry - BBC News

2/2/2018

Trump memo: Ryan plays down impact on Russia inquiry

All you need to know about the Trump-Russia investigation

A top US Republican, House Speaker Paul Ryan, has played down the potential impact of publishing a memo about FBI activities during the 2016 election.

President Donald Trump is expected to approve releasing the secret memo, which suggests the FBI abused its powers to spy on one of his aides.

Mr Ryan denied the memo was aimed at undermining a federal inquiry into the Trump campaign's links to Russia.

Congress had a duty to see surveillance powers were used correctly, he said.

He was speaking after Democrats portrayed the memo, commissioned by the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee (HIC) Devin Nunes, as an attempt to derail Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

James Comey, who led the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) at the time of the election and who was sacked by the new president, has suggested that the agency is being subjected to a witch hunt.

"American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up," he said in a tweet. "Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy [a US senator notorious for his crusade against suspected Communists in the 1950s]."

@Comey

All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. But take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.

9:51 AM - Feb 2, 2018

The 'secret memo' intriguing Washington

All you need to know about Trump Russia story

What is in the secret memo?

Approved by the HIC on Monday, the document reportedly accuses the FBI and justice department of misleading a judge in March of last year while seeking to extend a surveillance warrant against Carter Page, who was a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign.

Carter Page addresses the audience during a presentation in Moscow, Russia, 12 December 2016Image copyrightREUTERS

Image caption

Carter Page has testified to Congress about his meetings with Russians

The memo is said to argue the FBI and justice department did not tell the judge that some of their justification for the warrant relied on a much-disputed Trump-Russia dossier.

Compiled by a former British intelligence agent, that dossier was financed in part through the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to dig up dirt on Mr Trump.

Unnamed sources told Reuters news agency the Republican memo was misleading because all the dossier excerpts used in the FBI warrant application were independently confirmed by US intelligence.

Mr Page testified before a congressional committee in November that he had met Russian government officials during a trip to Moscow in July 2016.

Who's who in the drama to end all dramas?

The Trump-Russia saga in 200 words

How are Republicans defending the memo?

"What this memo is, is Congress doing its job in conducting legitimate oversight over a very unique law, Fisa [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]," Mr Ryan said.

Aides to Republican Devin Nunes wrote the secret memo

"And, if mistakes were made and if individuals did something wrong, then it is our job, as the legislative branch of the government, to conduct oversight over the executive branch if abuses were made.

"What this is not, is an indictment on our institutions, of our justice system. This memo is not [an] indictment of the FBI, of the Department of Justice. It does not impugn the Mueller investigation, or the deputy attorney general [Rod Rosenstein]."

However, another Republican member of the House who read the memo, Jeff Duncan, predicted in a tweet that the memo would shake the FBI "down to its core".

It would, he said, show "Americans just how the agency was weaponised" by officials from Barack Obama's administration and the Democratic Party to "target political adversaries".

@RepJeffDuncan

Having read “The Memo,” the FBI is right to have “grave concerns” - as it will shake the organization down to its core - showing Americans just how the agency was weaponized by the Obama officials/DNC/HRC to target political adversaries.

5:32 AM - Feb 2, 2018

What are Democrats saying?

Congressional Democratic leaders called on Thursday for Mr Nunes' immediate removal as chairman of the HIC.

The HIC's top Democrat, Adam Schiff, accused Republicans of amending the memo after it was approved.

He said Mr Nunes had sent the White House a version of the memo that had been "materially altered".

However, an unnamed Republican aide said the amendments were grammatical changes and "minor edits", including two tweaks requested by the FBI and by Democrats.

Why is the Department of Justice objecting?

The agency, which oversees the FBI, has warned that the memo's release could jeopardise underlying intelligence used to draft it.

It could also damage the arrangement under which US intelligence agencies brief lawmakers on secrets, with the understanding they will not end up in the public domain.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by President Trump, said on Thursday he would issue a rebuttal if the document was released.

The FBI has already voiced "grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy".

What happens next?

While President Trump is expected to approve the memo's release, the exact method for publishing it is "still being figured out", the Associated Press news agency reports.

As president, Mr Trump has the power to declassify the document himself and either release it or hand it to Congress to release.