House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said he didn’t work with the White House on his controversial memo, but wouldn’t respond when asked a more pointed question by a Democrat on his panel whether any of his staff members consulted with the West Wing.
According to the transcript of the Monday meeting in which the Republican lawmakers on the committee voted to make the four-page memo public, Rep. Mike Quigley — an Illinois Democrat — asked Nunes what role, if any, the Trump White House played.
The GOP memo reportedly details abuses of the federal surveillance court process under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by top officials at the FBI and Department of Justice, possibly against associates involved in the Trump campaign.
“When you, as the majority, conceived of doing this memo for the release to the body and to the public, the preparation, the thought of doing it, the consultation of it, was any of this done after/during conversations or consultations with anyone in the White House?” Quigley asked.
He also asked if anyone in the White House knew about the effort to put together a memo, or if the White House suggested doing a memo or the GOP majority suggested it to them.
Nunes replied that he “would just answer, as far as I know, no.”
“Does that mean none of the staff members that worked for the majority had any consultation at all with the White House?” Quigley pressed.
“The chair is not going to entertain a question by another member,” Nunes said.
The transcript also reveals that at the request of FBI Director Christopher Wray, committee staff went to FBI headquarters to share the memo with “two senior FBI employees for their input,” per Rep. Steve King, R-N.Y.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., asked King what the FBI said about the memo’s “dissemination to the public” and if they “are okay with it.”
King yielded to Nunes, who replied: “Our goal was to make sure that we were not going to disclose any issues of national security, and we believe that we have met that threshold.”
However, the FBI said Wednesday it has “grave concerns” about the memo because it includes “material omissions of fact.”
“The FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it,” the agency said in a statement. “As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”
Wray — who reviewed the memo on Sunday — warned the White House to object to the release of the memo.
The Justice Department also sent a warning letter to Nunes not to release it.
After the committee voted Monday night to release the memo, President Trump would have five days to explicitly object to its release or it would become public. Trump can also release the memo any time before the deadline, and the full House can vote to override his decision should he say no.
Trump was caught on a hot mic Tuesday night telling Rep. Jeff Duncan he would “100 percent” release the memo. The White House received the memo late Monday, and has said there is now a multi-agency review going on.
Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly said during a radio interview early Wednesday that he thinks the memo “will be released here pretty quick.”
