House Speaker Paul Ryan shot down calls from his Democratic counterparts to remove Rep. Devin Nunes from the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee.
Nunes’ four-page intelligence memo detailing Democratic abuses of the FISA process, in order to surveil President Trump’s campaign and transition team, is set to be de-classified and released by the White House Friday. The FBI is struggling to make redactions to the document before it makes its public debut.
Democratic ranking committee member Rep. Adam Schiff claimed that Nunes changed the memo for White House consumption without giving Schiff and other Democrats a chance to approve the changes.
Not true, says Ryan. Actually, Nunes only made one change in coordination with the FBI, in order to address intelligence agency concerns about redacting some material. Therefore, Nunes’ change was actually a move to make the memo less transparent.
Trending: Here’s Why Jeff Sessions Might Be Playing 4-D Chess
“In consultation with the FBI, they made a change to address those concerns and then they voted on releasing the memo to the White House,” Ryan said.
Ryan addressed reporters’ questions at a congressional retreat Thursday in West Virginia:
Join the conversation!
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.