Memo alleging FBI abuse released on Trump’s okay

The US Congress yesterday released a Republican memo alleging bias in FBI investigations into Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, moments after the president authorised the explosive move.“What’s happening in our country is a disgrace,” Trump said, announcing that he had declassified the memo drafted by Republican Congressman and former Trump transition team official Devin Nunes.“A lot of people should be ashamed,” added Trump, who earlier yesterday accused the leaders of the justice department and FBI of politicising their investigation in favour of the Democrats.“So I sent it over to Congress. They will do what they’re going to do. Whatever they do is fine. It was declassified, and let’s see what happens.”The move set up an extraordinary confrontation with the country’s top law enforcement authorities, and triggered speculation that FBI director Christopher Wray would step down just six months into the job.Trump’s critics allege the memo is designed to undercut special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of his campaign’s ties with Russia, which US intelligence agencies unanimously agree tried to tilt the election in his favour.Based on classified materials, the four-page document claims that the FBI used an unsubstantiated, Democratic-funded research report to obtain a warrant in 2016 to surveil Trump advisor Carter Page, who had extensive Russian contacts.The FBI had warned that the memo, crafted by Nunes as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, contained “material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”But Trump lashed out hard at the leaders of the FBI and justice department as he prepared to declassify the document.“The top leadership and investigators of the FBI and the justice department have politicised the sacred investigative process in favour of Democrats and against Republicans,” he tweeted.The president called the alleged bias “something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!”The document, which has circulated among many members of Congress, was based on the highly classified, much larger record of the application to obtain a so-called FISA national security warrant in 2016 to surveil Page.Democrats have sought approval for the release of their own counter-memo that argues Nunes simplified and “cherry-picks” facts to distort what happened.Directly in the firing line were Wray, attorney general Jeff Sessions and deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, all chosen last year for their jobs by Trump.Sessions has stayed out of the fray, but Rosenstein, who directly oversees Mueller’s Russia investigation, and Wray have battled Nunes and the White House over the memo since the beginning of the year.Democrats allege that the ultimate target is Rosenstein, the sole person able to fire Mueller.