House Intel panel votes to release classified Republican memo

The US House Intelligence Committee has voted along party lines to release a classified memo detailing alleged surveillance abuses by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Justice Department.

According to CNN, the committee's vote to release the memo spearheaded by Chairman Devin Nunes means that the four-page classified document could be made public this week.

Republicans have said that the Republican-written memo examines how the FBI eavesdrops on suspects in national security investigations and added that it shows corruption in the FBI that is "worse than Watergate,"

The Nunes memo underscores that the FBI abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). It also cites the roles of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and outgoing Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe in overseeing aspects of the investigation, according to a source who was briefed on the matter.

Calling it a "sad day" for the intelligence committee, top Democratic Representative Adam Schiff said that the panel also voted against releasing a Democratic memo that countered the Republican report and rejected his call for a briefing by Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray.

"Today, you saw a vote to politicize the process," Schiff said. "It's a sad day in the history of the committee."

Trump has up to five days to object to the memo's release, according to the reports.

Last week, the Justice Department sent a letter to Nunes saying it would be "extraordinarily reckless" to release the memo without giving the department the opportunity to review it for possible concerns with national security and ongoing investigations, the report said.