Memo release fuels Trump, FBI distrust

The bitterness between Donald Trump and the FBI has intensified after the release of a controversial Republican memo, with the president calling it a “disgrace” while the agency’s chief pledging to defend his agents.

The memo, released on Friday accuses senior law enforcement officials of misleading a court in order to conduct surveillance on a former Trump campaign adviser during its probe into the alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 election.

“The memorandum 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,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.

The memo, written by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, alleges that the FBI used the opposition research dossier on Trump and Russia written by ex-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele to secure a FISA surveillance warrant on former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page without disclosing that the dossier was funded in part by Democratic sources.

Sanders said the decision to release the memo was made with input from Trump’s national security team, including law enforcement officials and the intelligence community. PTI

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