In a remarkably public clash of wills with the White House, the FBI declared on Wednesday it has “grave concerns” about the accuracy of a classified memo on the Russia election investigation that President Donald Trump wants released.
The FBI’s short and sharp statement, its first on the issue, laid bare a Trump administration conflict that had previously played out mostly behind closed doors in meetings between top Justice Department and White House officials.
“As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy,” the FBI said.
Further complicating the memo’s release, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee said late on Wednesday that his committee’s vote to release the memo was now invalid because it was “secretly altered” by Republicans who wrote it. — AFP