Take caution with FBI memo

Ryan urges Republicans to take caution with FBI memo

By KYLE CHENEY and RACHAEL BADE

Speaker Paul Ryan urged Republican colleagues Tuesday to avoid overstating the findings of a classified House intelligence committee memo that alleges misconduct by FBI investigators involved in investigating Trump campaign contacts with Russia.

In a closed-door meeting with House Republicans at the Capitol, Ryan (R-Wis.) also urged lawmakers not to connect the findings of the memo with the probe being run by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to a source in the room. Ryan pleaded with members not to oversell the memo and to distinguish it from Mueller's investigation.

After the meeting, Ryan echoed many of the same sentiments in a press conference.

"There are legitimate questions about whether an American's civil liberties were violated under the FISA process... there may have been malfeasance at the FBI by certain individuals," he said.

The message seemed aimed at a subset of GOP lawmakers who have argued that the findings — hotly disputed by Democrats, who say it misrepresents the underlying facts — could end up curtailing Mueller's criminal probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. That investigation that also includes whether President Donald Trump or his allies attempted to obstruct justice.

The House Intelligence Committee voted Monday to release its classified memo publicly, a request now pending a review by Trump himself. Sources familiar with the memo say it alleges senior FBI officials inappropriately used a sensitive spying program, called FISA, to surveil a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser. Democrats opposed releasing the memo publicly and said it was an attempt to discredit the Russia investigation and Mueller.