Two administration sources say the classified memo alleging abuses by the Justice Department and FBI is being reviewed Tuesday by representatives from the Department of Justice, the FBI, the National Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The memo is said to detail, written by GOP staffers on the House Intelligence Committee, may soon be available to the public, after Republicans on the committee voted Monday to release it. A congressional statute allows the committee to release the memo if the president does not object.
The memo penned by the majority is said to contain evidence that the FBI wrongly relied on an unverified dossier compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele to secure surveillance warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It was sent to President Trump Monday evening, but he has not yet seen it.
The review process is being jointly coordinated by the National Security Council and the White House Counsel’s office. A recommendation to Trump on whether to release the memo is scheduled to be made late Wednesday.
If the memo or any contents relating to it are to be made public, that release, the sources said, would not come before Thursday.
The memo could come out then, but another option gaining some favor within the administration is not to release the memo, but to declassify the underlying evidence related to its findings. That evidence would be redacted, the sources said, to protect sensitive information on sources and methods. This approach, the sources said, might diminish some of the partisan nature of the memo’s creation.
No decisions have been reached on the fate of the memo. The sources said the consideration process could run the full five days available to the White House.
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