Pete King: Nunes changed ‘one small part’ of memo, did not affect its substance

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) on Thursday defended House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’s (R-Calif.) alteration of a contentious memo after Republicans on the panel had already voted to release it, saying the change affected only “one small part.”

“My understanding is this was agreed on beforehand among Republicans. There’s one small part in the memo which in no way affects the substance in the memo,” King, who also sits on the Intelligence Committee, said on CNN’s “New Day.”

King said the last-minute edit to the memo, which reportedly alleges that the FBI and Justice Department misused their authority to obtain a surveillance warrant for a former Trump campaign adviser, only removed “three or four words” and came at the request of the FBI.

{mosads}

The Intelligence Committee voted along party lines on Monday to release the document to the public, underscoring the deep partisan divide among the panel’s members and highlighting disagreements between the White House and the Justice Department.

Conservatives argue that releasing the memo is necessary because it sheds light on potential abuses by an executive branch agency and on the origins of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Democrats and some federal law enforcement officials, however, have raised concerns about the memo’s accuracy and its omission of key information that would help put its findings in context.

Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, accused Nunes on Wednesday of making “material changes” to the memo before sending it to the White House for review.

He called on Nunes to withdraw the version of the memo sent to President Trump, because “there is no longer a valid basis for the White House to review the altered documents.”

Trump still has two days to review the memo to determine whether to allow it to be made public. He is widely expected to approve its release, which could come as soon as Thursday.