Schiff: Memo Trump Is Reviewing Was 'Secretly Altered'

A rep for Nunes counters the changes were cosmetic
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 1, 2018 6:20 AM CST
Schiff Alleges Nunes 'Secretly Altered' Memo
Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks to members of the media, Monday, Jan. 29, 2018.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The debate about whether to release a memo regarding FBI surveillance just took a twist: House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff alleges the White House is debating the release of the wrong memo. In a letter sent to committee chair Devin Nunes, Schiff alleges that on Wednesday his staff realized that the four-page memo President Trump is considering for release had been "secretly altered," making it "materially different" than the version the committee approved for release on Monday. The letter calls it "imperative" that the memo be withdrawn, per CNN. "If the Majority remains intent on releasing its document to the public, despite repeated warnings from DOJ and the FBI, it must hold a new vote to release to the public its modified document," it continues.

Schiff tweeted a copy of his letter, which does not detail how the discovery was initially made. A rep for Nunes says the allegations are essentially hogwash and calls them an "increasingly strange attempt" to keep the memo from seeing the light of day. Per the rep, there were changes made, but they include only fixes to grammar and "two edits requested by the FBI and by the Minority themselves." The Washington Post observes that while congressmen criticize their peers regularly, "rarely does a member literally blow the whistle on another lawmaker in such dramatic fashion in full public view." And it argues that the case of Schiff and Nunes is particularly remarkable, in that the pair were formerly described as having "something of a bromance." Its piece looks at their backgrounds and their seemingly shattered relationship. (More Devin Nunes stories.)

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