The public could very soon see the controversial and classified memo created by GOP staffers on the House Intelligence Committee detailing alleged abuses by the Department of Justice and FBI, after Republicans on the committee voted in favor of its release Monday night.
A White House official confirmed to CBS News the memo was couriered to the White House Monday evening, following the vote, for review. From there, the president has five days from the time of the vote to object to the release of the memo. The president could decide immediately that he doesn’t want to object, and convey that sentiment to the House. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has said the White House supports “full transparency” in regards to the memo, and the president appears poised to release it, against the spoken wishes of his own DOJ.
But the House could also decide not to make the memo public yet. That’s because, read in its strictest sense, the relevant House rule says classified material may only be released once the five-day period expires.
At any rate, the timing is uncertain, given the unprecedented nature of the memo and its release. The memo has to do with alleged abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by the DOJ and FBI.
Meanwhile, the committee is determining what to do with a rebuttal memo created by Democrats on the committee. Republicans overruled the release of the minority memo on Monday night. Democrats are concerned Republicans are using the majority memo to undermine the credibility of the DOJ and intelligence committee, as special counsel Robert Mueller investigates Russian election meddling and any ties to the Trump administration. After Monday’s vote, House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Republicans had moved to “politicize the intelligence process.”
On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said the memo involves, a “completely separate matter from Bob Mueller’s investigation and his investigation should be allowed to take its course.”
On Sunday, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows, R-North Carolina, told reporters at a seminar backed by Charles and David Koch in Southern California that the contents of the memo are a part of a broader pattern that concerns him, and may just be a starting point for other “follows-ons.”
“My concern is part of a pattern, OK?” Meadows said. “And so whether it’s this memo or whether it’s other documents that will come out in other follow-ons, which could very well happen, I think that becomes part of the whole story. And so you know, to say that it’s so earth-shattering, some of my colleagues have been saying — I believe based on what I’ve seen that there were a number of things that were done inappropriately. To suggest what they are starts to get into details of this, and we’ve gotta’ be careful.”
CBS News’ Jacqueline Alemany, Steven Portnoy, Kathryn Watson and Olivia Andrzejczak Gazis contributed to this report.
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