GOP reps downplay Trump's take on memo

Democrats push for release of rebuttal to memo’s claims.

— A fierce par- tisan battle over the Justice Department and its role in the Russia investigation moves into its second week today as Democrats try to persuade the House Intelligence Committee to release a 10-page rebuttal to a controversial Republican memo alleging surveillance abuse.

The panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Cal- ifornia, is expected to offer a motion to release his party’s response to the Repub- lican document during a committee meeting sched- uled for today at 5 p.m. It was not immediately clear whether Republicans would join Democrats in voting for the document’s release, as some members of the GOP have expressed concerns about its contents. Speaking Sunday on ABC-TV, Schiff called the GOP memo a “political hit job on the FBI in service of the president.”

“The goal here really isn’t to find out the answers from

the FBI. The goal here is to undermine the FBI, discredit the FBI, discredit the (special counsel) investigation, do the president’s bidding,” Schiff told “This Week.” Democrats spent the week-

end pushing back against the claim by President Donald Trump and some Republi- cans that corruption has poi- soned the investigation led by special counsel Robert Muel- ler III into possible coordina- tion between Trump associates and the Kremlin during the 2016 election. Democrats and some Republicans worry that this view, buttressed by the GOP memo, will lead Trump to fire Mueller or Dep- uty Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia probe. Calling on Trump not to interfere in Mueller’s investigation, four Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee dismissed on Sunday the idea that the memo’s criticism of how the FBI handled certain surveil- lance applications under- mines the special counsel’s work. Reps. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, Chris Stewart of Utah, Will Hurd of Texas and Brad Wenstrup of Ohio represented the committee on morning talk shows. Gowdy, who helped draft the memo, said Trump should not fire Rosenstein and rejected the idea that the document has bearing on the investigation. “I actually don’t think it has any impact on the Russia probe,” Gowdy, who also chairs the House Oversight Committee, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Stewart, arguing that the two are “very separate” issues, said Mueller should be allowed to finish his work. “This memo, frankly, has nothing at all to do with the special counsel,” he told “Fox News Sunday.”

The four Republicans walked a careful line on the GOP document, which alleges that the Justice Department abused its powers by obtain- ing a warrant for surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page using information from a source who was b iased against Trump. Their comments echoed those of Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who supported

the memo’s release but insists its findings do not impugn Mueller or Rosenstein.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., did not participate in interviews Sunday.

It remained unclear Sunday whether Trump would

use the document as a pretext to fire senior Justice Depart

ment officials, a decision that could trigger a constitutional crisis, according to Democrats. Trump had advocated the memo’s release, telling advisers it could help him, in part by undercutting Mueller’s investigation and opening the door to firings.

Trump tweeted Sunday that while “the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on,” the Republican memo “totally vindicates” him.

“Their (sic) was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and find

ing NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!” he wrote from Florida, where he spent the weekend.