FBI memo: Trump looks set to clear way for release

Donald Trump looks set to release a classified memo on the Russia investigation said to allege FBI misconduct.

Donald Trump speaking at a Republican policy retreat this week in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump will approve the release of an explosive secret memo alleging failures in FBI ethics during the 2016 election campaign despite the “grave concerns” expressed by FBI director Christopher Wray.

The move escalates tensions between the White House and the FBI and led to speculation yesterday Mr Wray may even consider resigning over the issue.

The President’s decision not to block the classified memo comes despite Mr Wray and Deputy ­Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein pleading with the White House not to release it because they said it was inaccurate.

Speculation Mr Wray could resign over the issue has been ­fuelled by reports yesterday that he was “raising hell” over the prospect Mr Trump would ignore the bureau’s advice on such a sensitive national security issue.

The expected release of the memo as early as today will fuel claims by Republicans and the White House that the FBI was politically biased under former chief James Comey and that the Russia investigation was politically motivated.

Mr Trump accused leaders of the FBI and the Justice Department last night of showing pro-Democrat bias.

“The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans,” Trump tweeted.

A senior White House official said yesterday that the President had read the memo and had no objections to it and would not ask for redactions.

Mr Trump is believed to think the memo’s release would add weight to his claims that the Russia investigation being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller is a political witch hunt.

Mr Trump is today expected to tell congress he has no objections to its release, which means it would be up to the House intelligence committee to make the memo public. The chairman of the Republican-controlled committee, Devin Nunes, wrote the memo and has been pushing for its release.

On Tuesday Mr Trump was overheard on television telling a congressman that he “100 per cent” supported the release of the memo.

Mr Nunes compiled the memo using information provided to his committee as part of its own Russia investigation, which is separate to that being conducted by Mr Mueller.

His move came after Republicans on the committee discovered what they believed was improper behaviour by the FBI is applying for a warrant in October 2016 for surveillance against a Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page.

The FBI was investigating Mr Page’s links with Russian ­officials.

The memo alleges that the FBI sought a warrant from a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge without explaining to the judge that the application relied partly on research done by former British spy Christopher Steele, whose work had been funded by the Democrats.

However Mr Wray, who has reviewed the memo, said it left out important facts, creating a misleading impression of the events.

In a rare public statement, the FBI said it had “grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy”.

Although the issue is not linked to Mr Mueller’s investigation, it plays into the broader ­attempts by Republicans and the White House to question the impartiality of the FBI, increasing support for the President’s claim that he is the subject of a witch hunt.

Democrats say the memo’s ­release would be a politically motivated act aimed at undermining Mr Mueller’s investigation and tainting the FBI and the Justice department.

House minority leader Democrat Nancy Pelosi wrote to Republican House speaker Paul Ryan yesterday calling for Mr Nunes to be sacked as committee chairman over the controversy.

“Congressman Nunes’ deliberately dishonest actions make him unfit to serve as chairman, and he must be removed immediately from this position,” she wrote. “The integrity of the House is at stake.”

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia.