House Intel prepares to release memo vote transcript

by Katie Bo Williams - 01/30/18 2:29 PM ET

The House Intelligence Committee is preparing to release the transcript of its closed-door vote to release a Republican memo alleging “shocking” surveillance abuses at the Department of Justice, according to multiple GOP members.

The release of a Democratic-drafted memo designed to rebut the Republican memo was voted down during the same meeting, and ranking member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has been pushing for the release of the transcript.

“As soon as the transcript lady gets it done, it’ll be available post haste,” Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) said Tuesday.

{mosads}A spokesperson for committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), whose staff drafted the memo, confirmed that the transcript would be released as soon as it is completed.

Democrats are outraged that Republicans are only permitting the Democratic memo to be viewed by House members — rather than public — and lawmakers have described the hourlong gathering as contentious.

Stone-faced committee Democrats appeared in a phalanx after the vote, decrying what Schiff described as the crossing of “a deeply regrettable line in this committee, where for the first time in the 10 years I’ve been on the committee, there was a vote to politicize the declassification process of intelligence.”

The committee held several votes during the session, according to Schiff, including a motion that the Department of Justice brief the full House on both memos and a motion that the Democratic and Republican memos be released publicly together. Both motions, put forward by Schiff, failed.

Republicans expressed concerns that the Democrat’s memo exposed sensitive intelligence sources and methods and should be vetted by the House first, as the Republican memo was.

The precise contents of both memos remain unknown. The Nunes memo is believed to contain allegations that the FBI did not adequately explain to a clandestine court that some of the information it used in a surveillance warrant application for Trump adviser Carter Page came from opposition research partially funded by the Clinton campaign, now known as the “Steele dossier.”

Democrats have slammed the memo as a collection of misleading talking points they are unable to correct without exposing the highly classified information underpinning the document.

“It’ll be interesting reading,” Conaway said of the transcript.

–Updated 3:44 p.m.

Tags Adam Schiff Devin Nunes Mike Conaway