The Latest: Top Democrat says vote to release memo invalid
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on investigations into contacts between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia (all times local):
10:15 p.m.
The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee says a vote earlier this week to release a classified memo to the public is invalid because Republicans changed part of the document before sending it to the White House for review.
California Rep. Adam Schiff sent a letter to House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes late Wednesday that charged the document had been "secretly altered" by Republicans after the vote. Schiff did not detail the changes. A spokesman for Nunes did not immediately return a request for comment.
The panel voted Monday to publicly release the memo, part of a GOP effort to prove improper use of surveillance by the FBI in its Russia investigation. President Donald Trump has five days from the vote to review the document.
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10 p.m.
The FBI has declared that 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 Wednesday lays bare a Trump administration conflict that has played out mostly behind closed doors in meetings between top Justice Department and White House officials.
The agency's stance on the memo means that Trump would be openly defying his hand-picked FBI director by continuing to push for the memo's disclosure.
The four-page memo was drafted by Republicans on the House intelligence committee.
The Republicans have said the memo reveals surveillance abuses by the FBI and the Justice Department in the early stages of the investigation into potential ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.
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5:45 p.m.
Special counsel Robert Mueller and attorneys for Michael Flynn say they're not ready for the former national security adviser to be sentenced because of the current status of the investigation.
The attorneys disclosed the information in a filing in federal court in Washington. Flynn has been cooperating with Mueller's investigators since December, when he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of making false statements.
The charge stemmed from an FBI interview in which Flynn lied about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S.
It's common for sentencing hearings to be delayed until the government believes a person has fully cooperated.
Document requests and recent witness interviews show Mueller is keenly interested in Flynn's time in the White House and President Donald Trump's decision to fire him.
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5 p.m.
The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee says only two people on the panel have read the classified information that formed the basis for a controversial Republican memo that may soon be released to the public.
According to a transcript released Wednesday, California Rep. Adam Schiff said at a Monday committee meeting that only he and GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina had read the underlying information that informed a classified GOP memo. The panel has voted to publicly release the memo, part of a GOP effort to prove improper use of surveillance by the FBI and Justice Department in the Russia investigation.
Schiff said in the meeting that Republicans had previously voted down a motion to make that underlying information available to all members of the committee.
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3:35 p.m.
The Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee is firing back at the FBI and the Justice Department over a classified memo alleging abuses of the government's surveillance powers.
Rep. Devin Nunes of California, a close ally of President Donald Trump, says in a statement that the objections of the Trump administration's FBI and the Justice Department to publicly releasing the GOP-authored memo are "spurious."
Nunes also says top federal law enforcement officials "misused" intelligence agencies and the courts during a counter-intelligence investigation during the 2016 election by using "unverified information in a court document."
The White House is reviewing the memo. Republicans have said it shows abuses of the government's surveillance apparatus. Democrats have called it a "cherry-picked" group of GOP talking points.
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2:35 p.m.
The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee says Republicans have misled fellow members of Congress with a classified memo pertaining to the Russia probe and is asking whether President Donald Trump will do the same with the country.
California Rep. Adam Schiff is challenging Trump as the president reviews the classified information that House intelligence committee voted to make public on Monday over Democratic objections. The GOP memo is an effort to detail what they say is improper use of surveillance by the FBI and Justice Department. Trump has a five-day review, and it will be released if he doesn't object.
The FBI said it has "grave concerns" about the memo's accuracy. Schiff tweeted that Republicans have "used this memo to mislead the House. Will the president now use it to mislead the country?"
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12:45 p.m.
The FBI says it has "grave concerns" about omissions in a classified memo on the Russia investigation that President Donald Trump wants to release to the public.
The statement Wednesday was the FBI's first public comment about a four-page memo that was drafted by Republicans on the House intelligence committee and that has divided the Trump Justice Department and White House.
In its statement, the FBI says, "We have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy."
The statements came hours after Trump was overheard telling a Republican lawmaker that he was "100 percent" in favor of releasing the document.
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9:31 a.m.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, says there is nothing in a classified Republican memo on the Russia investigation that vindicates President Donald Trump.
He says Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the committee chairman, is pushing a "misleading narrative" to undermine the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether Trump's campaign was involved.
Schiff says, "This is not about the facts."
He says Trump also incorrectly claimed to be vindicated last year when Nunes shared evidence with the White House of a "vast unmasking conspiracy" that allegedly involved Obama officials inappropriately making requests to uncover the identities of Trump campaign officials in intelligence reports.
Schiff spoke at an event sponsored by the news site Axios.
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9:10 a.m.
A White House spokeswoman says she is not aware that President Donald Trump has seen a classified memo on the Russia investigation that he favors releasing.
Trump was overheard Tuesday night telling a Republican lawmaker he is "100 percent" in favor of releasing the memo. He spoke on the House floor after his first State of the Union address.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on CNN Wednesday morning that she was not aware Trump had seen the memo, adding that he had not "prior to and immediately after" the address.
Sanders said a legal and national security review into the memo continues.
The memo purports to show improper use of surveillance by the FBI and Justice Department in the Russia investigation. It has sparked a political fight pitting Republicans against the FBI and the Justice Department.
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2:02 a.m.
The White House says it will give a controversial memo connected to the Russia election meddling probe a legal and national security check before President Donald Trump decides whether to release it.
Yet Trump was overhead at Tuesday night's State of the Union address telling a Republican lawmaker that he is "100 percent" in favor of releasing the memo. Television cameras captured the exchange as Trump was leaving the House chamber.
Republicans say the memo reveals improper use of surveillance by the FBI and the Justice Department, a description Democrats dispute.
The memo arrived at the White House on Monday after the House intelligence committee brushed aside opposition from the Justice Department and voted to release it. Under committee rules, the president has five days to object to its release.