Conaway: Quicker the Dem memo released the better

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) on Tuesday stressed the need to make public a Democratic memo aimed at countering a controversial GOP-drafted document alleging improper surveillance of the Trump campaign.

“The quicker we get the Democrat memo out, the better,” Conaway, who is leading the House Intelligence Committee’s probe into Russia’s election interference, told reporters.

The Intelligence panel met Tuesday about the release of the Democratic memo following President Trump’s decision to temporarily block it from being released to the public.

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Conaway noted that “this is the first time we’ve ever done this,” referring to the release of memos that contain information on classified federal surveillance processes. But he said the Intelligence Committee would vote again to release the Democratic memo if necessary before sending it to the White House for approval.

Trump declined last week to declassify the document, citing national security concerns from the administration. That came after the panel voted to send the document to the president for him to release.

Democrats argue that their memo debunks key claims from the GOP document released earlier this month, which alleges that senior FBI and Justice Department officials improperly secured warrants to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Democrats insist that the Republican document cherry-picked information from the FBI’s process in obtaining surveillance warrants to prove its point that the law enforcement agency aimed to undermine the presidency. 

“We will work with the FBI to get the redactions right” and “report it out quickly” in order to “see their side of the story,” Conaway said Tuesday of the Democratic memo.

Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who was responsible for the initial GOP memo, said he hopes the Democratic response is released so people can see how “ridiculous” its claims are.