Redacted, declassified Dems’ memo released

WASHINGTON — A redacted, declassified memo released by Democrats on the House intelligence committee Saturday aims to counter a narrative that Republicans on the committee have pushed for months — that the FBI and Justice Department conspired against President Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, abusing a secret surveillance process to spy on one of his operatives in its Russia investigation.

The Democratic memo was released Saturday after weeks of delays. The White House on Feb. 9 objected to its release, citing national security concerns. That sent the Democrats back to negotiations with the FBI over how much of the memo needed to be blacked out.

President Donald Trump had no such concerns about an earlier classified memo written by Republicans, which he declassified Feb 2 over strong objections from the FBI. In that memo, Republicans took aim at the FBI and the Justice Department over the use of an anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele in obtaining a secret warrant to monitor the communications of a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

The Democratic document attempts to undercut and add context to some of the main points from the GOP memo, including the GOP assertion that the FBI obtained the surveillance warrant without disclosing that Steele’s materials were funded by Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Republicans had said that federal authorities had not disclosed enough to the court about the political nature of the work, but the Democratic memo contends the Justice Department disclosed “the assessed political motivation of those who hired him.”