GOP to release memo that claims improper FBI surveillance in Russia investigation

WASHINGTON — As President Trump seethes over the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, he’s been able to count on rock-solid support from his Republican allies in Congress, who, amplified by conservative commentators on Fox News, have increasingly labored in recent weeks to raise public doubts about the inquiry.

Their efforts, cheered on by a president who has urged Republicans to “take control” of the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, are keeping Justice Department officials on the defensive at the same time prosecutors are seeking an interview with Trump himself.

The latest step came Monday night when the House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines to release a classified memo that Republican members say shows improper surveillance of Trump’s campaign.

The committee’s Republican majority refused to authorize Democrats to release their own memo, which challenges the Republican version. The panel’s senior Democrat, Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-Burbank, called that vote an abuse that would “politicize the intelligence process.”

“Today this committee voted to put the president’s personal interest, and perhaps their own political interests, above the national interest,” Schiff said after the committee vote, which took place in private.

Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., a member of the panel, said the committee voted to make the Democrats’ memo available to the rest of Congress, much like the Republican version was shared earlier this month. It could be released “when it goes through the same process as ours did,” he said.

Justice Department officials have objected in unusually strong language to making public the document, which was prepared by Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, and is based on classified information. The White House could block its release, but Trump has already indicated his interest in making it public, a sign that he believes it could give him legal or political leverage.

For weeks, Republicans have scoured private text messages between FBI officials for evidence of partisan bias against Trump. They’ve also bottled up legislation designed to insulate Mueller from being fired, despite recent disclosures that the president tried to remove him last year.

“I don’t think it’s necessary,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, RKy., said Monday on Fox. “I don’t think the administration wants to get rid of Mueller and therefore the legislation is not necessary.”

The escalating clashes over the investigation, which began as an inquiry into whether anyone from Trump’s team helped the Russian efforts, come as Mueller appears to be examining whether the president obstructed justice by actions including the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey last year. Trump later said “this Russia thing” was on his mind when he made the decision.