Clash over Russia memo

FBI, White House clash over Russia memo

Former FBI agents said they saw the bureau's statement as a shot across the bow of Trump and other Republicans who have repeatedly cast it as politically biased.

By KYLE CHENEY and JOSH GERSTEIN

President Donald Trump called FBI Director Christopher Wray “a fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity” when he named him to the post last year after firing his predecessor.

But on Wednesday, Wray’s FBI sought to protect itself from the administration, firing a warning shot at Trump and his Republican allies about a classified GOP memo criticizing the FBI’s handling of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia.

In a highly unusual public statement, the FBI said it had “grave concerns” about the accuracy of the document, which House Republicans voted on Monday to release and which Trump told a lawmaker in remarks caught on a microphone after Tuesday’s State of the Union he was “100 percent” in favor of making public.

“[T]he FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it,” the bureau said. “As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

The statement marked a dramatic escalation in the simmering conflict between Wray and the president who appointed him, after Trump knocked down reports the FBI director had once threatened to quit rather than fire his deputy. Republicans have also criticized the FBI after text messages emerged between two officials who were critical of Trump.

Former FBI agents said they saw the Wednesday statement as a shot across the bow of Trump and other Republicans who have repeatedly cast the bureau as politically biased.

“I think they’re trying to make a statement for the future that we don’t want this to become a routine part of our politics that the Republicans are going to put out stuff that will hurt Democrats that’s classified, and the Democrats will respond,” said former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes. “We don’t want this to become the rule of thumb in Washington.”

The memo at issue was the product of House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes’ (R-Calif.) efforts to determine whether investigators relied on a disputed private dossier — which alleges illicit ties between the president and the Russian government and was crafted with funding by Democrats — to obtain a warrant to spy on a Trump campaign aide.

People who have seen the memo say it alleges senior FBI officials abused a sensitive spying program, known as FISA, to conduct surveillance of Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, who the FBI has long eyed for suspect ties to the Kremlin.

“It’s clear that top officials used unverified information in a court document to fuel a counter-intelligence investigation during an American political campaign,” Nunes shot back at the FBI in a statement Wednesday. He claimed the FBI was guilty of its own “material omissions” in presentations to Congress, though he did not say what they were.

Democrats, however, say the GOP memo is misleading and misrepresents the underlying intelligence. They say Trump’s allies are trying to divert focus from the Russia investigations — and hamper efforts by special counsel Robert Mueller. Democrats on the House intelligence committee have offered a second memo as a rebuttal, but committee Republicans objected to releasing it until the House has a chance to review it further.

“It’s clear the goal is to undermine the special counsel’s investigation,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. “If transparency were the objective, Republicans would support releasing the Democratic memo simultaneously, but instead they’re blocking it.”

Wray viewed the Republican memo Sunday before the committee voted to release it, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the intelligence committee’s top Democrat, said Wray told him the session didn’t alleviate his concerns about the material presented in the memo.

An official familiar with talks inside the administration said Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein both raised concerns earlier this week to Kelly about releasing the memo in its unredacted form.

The FBI’s complaint Wednesday does not suggest the release of the memo would compromise its sources and methods of intelligence gathering. But allies of the bureau and Democrats say it would be difficult for the FBI to set the record straight about any inaccurate claims because any information that could be used in its defense would remain classified.

In a puzzling move, spokespeople for the Justice Department declined to say whether agency leaders agreed or disagreed with the statement from the FBI, which is part of the Justice Department.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) took to the Washington Post op-ed page on Wednesday, accusing Republicans of “a violent break from the committee’s nonpartisan tradition” that shatters the post-Watergate understanding that the intelligence committee’s cooperation with congressional overseers would be insulated from politics.

“As a result, they will be far more reluctant to share their secrets with us in the future,” he wrote. “Moreover, sources of information that the agencies rely upon may dry up, since they can no longer count on secrecy when the political winds are blowing.”

In fact, it would not be the first time politicians and the FBI director found themselves at loggerheads. In the mid-1990s, President Bill Clinton and FBI Director Louis Freeh clashed, with some of the friction playing out in public. Freeh complained that the Clinton White House had “victimized” the FBI by requesting background-check files on appointees of the previous administration. Clinton and Freeh also issued contradictory statements about FBI briefings on an alleged Chinese effort to influence the U.S. election.

Clinton also bristled at Freeh’s recommendation of an independent counsel to investigate fundraising from within the White House by Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. Attorney General Janet Reno turned down Freeh’s request.

Still, Democrats and FBI allies speculated whether the precedent set by the House intelligence committee voting to release its FISA memo could lead future Congresses to abuse the ability to release classified intelligence.

“This little-known rule under which Nunes wants to release his 4-page memo containing classified information - what does he think Dems are going to do with that precedent in one year if they take the House?” wondered former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara.

And Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a string of tweets that if the memo is released, he would seek the disclosure of “a long list of less sensitive, but still classified, information that the American people deserve to see.”

Meanwhile, Republicans who have clamored for the release of the memo are now awaiting a signal from the White House about when and whether they can discuss its contents.

It’s unclear what happens next. That’s because in their drive to unveil the document quickly, Republicans turned to a never-used set of House rules that leave a lot of key questions unanswered.

Under the rules, the House intelligence committee can vote to reveal classified information if members determine “the public interest would be served” — which they did Monday. That triggered a five-day period for Trump to review the material, during which time he could object to its release.

There are points of confusion, however. For example: Does Trump have to issue some formal statement, or does a tweet count?

“My guess is the president will make some sort of statement,” said Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), a senior Republican on the House intelligence committee. “This is the first time we’ve done this, so no precedent on how this actually works.”

It’s also unclear if, should Trump issue some statement of approval, the memo could be released right away. Conaway said he thought Nunes would enter the memo into the Congressional Record, making its publication formal. That could only happen when the House is in session, meaning next Monday at the earliest — although it’s possible Trump could declassify it himself and have it published sooner.