Accuses GOP of secret changes

Schiff accuses GOP of secret changes to memo before sending it to Trump

By ELANA SCHOR

The House intelligence committee's top Democrat charged Republicans late Wednesday with sending the White House "an altered version" of a classified memo alleging misconduct by the FBI in its probe of a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) made the accusation against Republicans on the intelligence panel as Trump is said to be weighing a release of the politically incendiary memo as soon as Thursday. But the GOP quickly pushed back, accusing the minority of "complaining about minor edits" and asserting that Democrats sought two of the changes at issue.

Schiff called on Republicans to "immediately withdraw the document that it sent to the White House" so that the intelligence panel can hold another vote on releasing the edited version.

In a letter to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chairman of the intelligence committee, Schiff said that Democrats were only made aware of the changes to the memo on Wednesday night and "belatedly afforded" the chance to compare the two versions.

"While the majority's changes do not correct the profound distortions and inaccuracies in your document, they are nonetheless substantive," Schiff wrote to Nunes. He did not elaborate further on the nature of the changes.

Jack Langer, spokesman for the intelligence committee GOP, responded that the panel's "vote to release the memo was absolutely procedurally sound, and in accordance with House and Committee rules."

"In its increasingly strange attempt to thwart publication of the memo, the Committee minority is now complaining about minor edits to the memo, including grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and by the minority themselves," Langer said via email.

The memo that Republicans on the House intelligence panel voted earlier this week to release contains information sensitive enough to prompt a rare public statement earlier Wednesday from the FBI, which registered "grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

The memo is believed to make the case that the FBI overstepped the bounds of the foreign intelligence surveillance program known as FISA in the course of monitoring Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide with ties to Russia.

The earliest chance for the intelligence panel to meet once again and vote on releasing the changed version of the memo is Monday, Schiff wrote in his letter to Nunes, describing the previously undisclosed change as "deeply troubling."

Langer, the GOP spokesman, added that any implication that the vote to release the document would have to be retaken "is a bizarre distraction from the abuses detailed in the memo, which the public will hopefully soon be able to read for themselves."

A senior Democratic official familiar with the dispute, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the changes were "not cosmetic" but rather "try to water down some of the Majority's assertions."

"It is clear that the Majority is no longer fully comfortable with what it has represented to House members," the official said.

Democrats have long charged that the memo, which Senate intelligence committee members were initially not able to view, is part of a broader Republican campaign to undercut the Department of Justice's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election — including possible collusion with Trump allies.

“It’s clear that Chairman Nunes will seemingly stop at nothing to undermine the rule of law and interfere with the Russia probe," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement on the Schiff letter.

Schumer called on Ryan (R-Wis.) to "put an end to this charade once and for all."

Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong responded: "We hope Senator Schumer would agree that potential FISA abuses on American citizens are extremely troubling and should be reviewed."