WH to release Republican memo despite FBI warning

Washington DC [United States] Feb 2 (ANI): The White House on Friday is likely to give Congress approval to release a Republican-drafted memo, despite of a warning from the top US law enforcement agency.

Trump is likely to declassify the document and send it to Congress for release, according to the US media.

"We have had over the last couple days to look at it to make sure it doesn't give away too much in terms of classification. Right now, I think it will be that we tell the Congress, probably tomorrow [Friday], that the President is OK with it," CNN reported, citing the official as saying aboard Air Force One.

"I doubt there will be any redactions," the official added, "Then it is in Congress' hands after that."

The memo alleges Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) bias against President Donald Trump in its Russia probe.

The four-page memo was crafted by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, and commissioned by Devin Nunes, the panel's Republican chairman.

Democrats have branded the draft misleading, based on a selective use of highly classified data and intended to discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller's criminal probe into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to help him win the 2016 presidential election.

The FBI has voiced "grave concerns" about the release of the memo.

"The FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it. As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy," reported the Huffington Post, citing the FBI as saying, in a statement.

The statement followed a Monday visit to the White House by FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who asked Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, not to make the memo public, according to two sources familiar with the matter. (ANI)

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