Trump to decide on release of rebuttal memo

and Justice Department of abusing their authority in wiretapping a onetime Trump campaign associate.

A White House spokesman said Mr. Trump would “consider” the Democratic memo’s release just as he had the Republican document. He has heaped scorn on the Democratic effort.

The top Democrat on the intelligence panel, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, announced the vote results, saying GOP attacks on the Justice Department and the FBI show desperation on the part of the president’s defenders.

“We think this will help inform the public of the many distortions and inaccuracies” in the GOP memo released last week over the objections of Democrats and the FBI, Mr. Schiff said.

“We want to make sure that the White House does not redact our memo for political purposes,’’ Mr. Schiff said. “There is a rising sense of panic clearly within the White House and as well on the Hill.”

Earlier Monday, Mr. Trump traded insults with Mr. Schiff.

Mr. Trump resorted to his occasional name-calling on Twitter, labeling Mr. Schiff “one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington.”

Mr. Schiff quickly shot back: “Instead of tweeting false smears, the American people would appreciate it if you turned off the TV and helped solve the funding crisis, protected Dreamers or ... really anything else.”

White House spokesman Raj Shah took a more measured approach, saying consideration of a release would “allow for a legal review, national security review led by the White House counsel’s office.”

On Sunday, Republicans as well as Democrats said Mr. Trump was wrong to assert that the GOP-produced memo cleared him in the Russia investigation. Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia as well as whether there have been efforts to obstruct the investigation. Mr. Trump tweeted over the weekend that the memo “totally vindicates ‘Trump’ in probe” even as “the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on.” But that statement found no echo from four committee Republicans who appeared on the Sunday talk shows. Lawmakers also said the memo should not impede Mr. Mueller.

Mr. Schiff has branded the GOP memo “a political hit job” and has questioned whether House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., had coordinated with the White House in drafting the document seized on by the president to vent his grievances against the nation’s premier law enforcement agencies.

“The goal here is to undermine the FBI, discredit the FBI, discredit the Mueller investigation, do the president’s bidding,” Mr. Schiff said. “I think it’s very possible his staff worked with the White House.”

Mr. Nunes was asked during a Jan. 29 committee meeting whether he had coordinated the memo with the White House. “As far as I know, no,” he responded, then refused to answer when asked whether his congressional staff members had communicated with the White House. He had previously apologized for sharing with the White House secret intelligence intercepts related to an investigation of Russian election interference before talking to committee members.

Mr. Trump also praised Mr. Nunes in a separate tweet Monday, calling him “a man of tremendous courage and grit...”

The memo released Friday alleges misconduct on the part of the FBI and the Justice Department in obtaining a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page and his ties to Russia. Specifically, it takes aim at the FBI’s use of information from former British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled a dossier of allegations of ties between Mr. Trump, his associates and Russia.