Jim Himes says memo was changed prior to sending it to the White House counsel

Rep. Jim Himes said Thursday that Rep. Devin Nunes made “substantive changes” before giving the memo to the White House counsel’s office to potentially release to the public.

“If you read Adam Schiff’s letter, and Adam Schiff, whatever you think of him as a Democrat in what has unfortunately become a partisan fight, is an attorney. He’s very careful. He’s not bombastic. He doesn’t bend the truth, and the words were that there were material and substantive changes,” Mr. Himes, Connecticut Democrat, said on CNN.

Mr. Schiff sent a letter to Mr. Nunes on Wednesday saying the changes were not approved by the whole committee, per protocol.

Mr. Himes, who also sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said that they originally tried to vote to prohibit the FBI from even briefing them on the intelligence that led to Mr. Nunes’ memo because it was so highly classified.

“It’s laden with classified information that only two members on the committee had reviewed. There was a vote to prohibit … the FBI and DOJ to come in and talk to us about these allegations,” Mr. Himes said.

The memo concerns possible abuses in obtaining surveillance warrants for members of President Trump’s campaign team. Democrats argue Republicans are politically motivated to undermine the justice system, but Republicans say it shows bias in the organization against the president and a dangerous abuse of civil rights.