DEMS/GOP/HOUSE OF REPS/INTELLIGENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The House Intelligence Committee on Monday [2-5-18] is expected to consider whether to release a Democratic rebuttal to a GOP-authored document about surveillance of a onetime Trump campaign adviser, according to people familiar with the matter.
The four-page Republican document, released Friday, alleged political bias by federal law-enforcement officials in seeking surveillance of former Trump adviser Carter Page. Democrats have said the memo cherry-picked facts as a way to muddy the waters of the broader probe into ties between Trump associates and Russia, led by special counsel Robert Mueller. The buildup to the memo’s release late last week fueled tensions between President Donald Trump and his own Justice Department, with top law-enforcement officials saying they had ‘grave concerns’ about what they said were its factual omissions and accuracy.
The GOP-controlled committee has so far blocked the release of the Democrats’ memo, but it will meet Monday at 5 p.m. to consider ‘the public disclosure of executive session material…and other matters,’ according to the panel’s website.
Some Republicans on the Intelligence Committee have said they would vote to allow the Democratic document to become public once the full House of Representatives had a chance to review it. It was made available to all lawmakers last week.
If the committee votes to release the memo, Mr. Trump would have five days to object to its release. If he objects, the matter would return to the full House of Representatives for a vote. On Sunday, Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, urged Mr. Trump in a letter to approve the Democratic memo.”
-Michelle Hackman and Byron Tau, “House Panel to Consider Democrats’ Own Surveillance Memo,” The Wall Street Journal online, Feb. 4, 2018 05:23pm