Rep. Adam B. Schiff said Thursday he’s uncertain when the Democratic memo concerning alleged surveillance abuses will be released and he wouldn’t say whether he’ll work on it next week while Congress is out of town.
His comments come roughly one week after the White House refused to release the memo, saying sensitive information in the memo as drafted would betray national security interests.
But with Congress being out on recess next week, and the White House potentially having five days to review the edited version, the memo may not get released until next month — if at all.
The California Democrat wrote it to counter a GOP memo that said the FBI used politically tainted data and misled a secret court in seeking approval to conduct surveillance on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign official, under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The White House sent it back to Mr. Schiff for revisions last week, and the lawmaker has been negotiating with the FBI over classified information this week.
“We hope to get it resolved as soon as possible,” Mr. Schiff told The Washington Times Thursday.
Mr. Trump approved release of the GOP memo earlier this month, finding it didn’t reveal critical sources or methods of intelligence gathering.
Both Mr. Schiff’s office and House Intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ office didn’t say whether the committee would have to vote again on releasing the revised memo.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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