Trump, Republicans release memo targeting FBI's Russia probe
WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (AFP) - Donald Trump and his Republican allies unleashed a controversial memo accusing the FBI of bias and abuse of power Friday, intensifying a high- stakes fight between the White House and prosecutors investigating the president's campaign team.
Trump defied his own FBI director and the Justice Department to declassify the four-page Republican document, which implies malfeasance and partisanship at the very top of American law enforcement.
“What's going on in this country, I think it's a disgrace,” a visibly tense Trump said as he announced his decision to release the memo. “A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves.” Democrats and some Republicans have cried foul over the document, dismissing its release as little more than a stunt, and another thinly veiled effort to undermine the investigation into the Trump campaign's ties with Russia.
They claim the document -- drafted by Devin Nunes, a Trump transition official, Congressman and House Intelligence Committee chairman -- has glaring holes. The FBI itself said it had “grave concerns” over its accuracy.
The memo claims that Democratfunded research prompted the FBI to spy on a former Trump cam- paign aide, Carter Page.
In a subsequent statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the document “raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI.” Trump's son Don Jr tweeted that it should be “game over” for the Russia investigation.
Trump's one-year-old presidency has been dominated by allegations that multiple aides, including Don Jr and his son- in- law Jared Kushner, may have coordinated with the Kremlin to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has already indicted two officials including Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and two more campaign officials have admitted lying to investigators -- including onetime national security advisor Michael Flynn.
The 71- year- old president has decried the allegations as fake news and a Democratic plot. Mueller is expected to ask him to testify under oath about what he knows. The memo's release sent shockwaves across Washington, calling into question the future of Trump's hand-picked FBI Director Christopher Wray. But he shrugged off attacks on the FBI's independence and pledged to defend his agents in an internal letter to staff.
The FBI had previously issued an extraordinary public warning against the memo's release, saying it contained “material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy.” But perhaps the biggest question hung over deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein oversees the Russia investigation and has the power to fire special counsel Mueller, because his boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, recused himself. He was the only law enforcement official named in the memo who has not already been fired by Trump or moved from their post.
Trump, asked if he has confidence in Rosenstein, said: “You figure that one out.” Any attempt to fire Rosenstein or Mueller would be seen as obstruction.