UPDATE: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) says House Intelligence Committee Democrats will draft their own memo correcting the record so that the Nunes memo mischaracterizing classified information is not the only source available to the full House and the public:
“Last week, House Intelligence Committee Republicans voted to release to all Members of the House a highly misleading ‘memo’ attacking the conduct of the Russia investigation by the FBI and the DOJ. Like its other attacks on those agencies, this represents another effort to distract from the Russia probe and undermine the Special Counsel. With this latest gambit, however, the Majority seeks to selectively and misleadingly characterize classified information in an effort to protect the President at any cost.
“Regrettably, it has been necessary for Committee Democrats to draft our own memorandum, setting out the relevant facts and exposing the misleading character of the Republicans’ document so that members of the House are not left with an erroneous impression of the dedicated professionals at the FBI and DOJ. On Monday, at our normally scheduled Committee meeting, we will move that this new memorandum be made available to the full House in our classified spaces.
“It now appears that the GOP intends to seek further dissemination of this classified information, this time to the public. Yesterday, a member of the Freedom Caucus admitted discussing the Republican spin memo with the President and indicated that he was sure the President would approve its release to the public because ‘it is so favorable’ for him. If this becomes the new standard for the declassification of information revealing sources and methods, this Administration and Majority will have reached a dangerous new low, trading our national security interests for political benefit.
“The Russians, who are pushing the campaign to declassify this information through its social media bots and trolls, will no doubt be thrilled. We would strongly urge against this course, but would have to insist that our memorandum be likewise made public so that the entire nation is not then misled.”
At the same time, CNN reports Nunes now is refusing to share his memo with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC).
According to three sources familiar with the matter, Burr's staff requested a copy of the memo and has been denied, just as the FBI and Justice Department have also been denied reviewing a copy of the document. The memo is based on highly classified intelligence that only a select group of House and Senate lawmakers have accessed.
Indeed, the memo was drafted by Nunes, R-California, and his staff, as the chairman weighs whether to hold a committee vote as early as next week calling for the memo's public release.
Intel Committee Ranking Member Schiff Statement on Nunes Memo (press release)
Senate Intelligence Committee not given access to Nunes FISA memo (CNN)
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the House Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, reviewed the classified information behind Rep. Devin Nunes' four-page memo and has released the following statement:
“Let me as clear as I can be in an unclassified setting: the Nunes memo is a deliberately misleading document. I can understand why President Trump, Chairman Nunes, and hundreds of Russian Twitter accounts want to undermine the Special Counsel’s investigation—but I cannot believe that anyone who thinks these allegations are true has actually read the documents on which the memo purports to be based.
“Chairman [Bob] Goodlatte and I have both read the source materials. I hope that he will work with me to make those documents available to our full Committee membership and to mitigate the damage done by Chairman Nunes and others. It is time that we set partisanship aside, let Special Counsel Mueller and the relevant committees do their job, and Congress as a whole should fulfill our responsibility to preserve the integrity of U.S. elections against foreign interference.”
Rep. Nadler also sent a letter to Chairman Goodlatte (R-VA) in which he asked his colleague to work with him to make the underlying classified information available to the full House Judiciary Committee
"Too many of our colleagues appear to be constructing their own version of history — completely unrelated to the facts as you and I understand them — based, at least in part, on this memorandum," he wrote. "Our members should have the benefit of access to the actual record without delay."
Nadler also urged Goodlatte to demand that Nunes release his memo to the Justice Department and FBI, both of which have said they've sought the document but have yet to receive it. A Senate Intelligence ommittee source said Nunes also hasn't responded to requests from members of the panel to share the document with senators.
"Some of our colleagues have compounded the problem by attacking the Department in public — where, because of the classified and sensitive nature of the case, Department officials cannot defend themselves," Nadler wrote.
Goodlatte does appear to be taking action, but he is working with fellow Republicans on how to release the memo and not the underlying documentation.
Goodlatte met over the weekend with Nunes and Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy to discuss how to handle calls to release the memo publicly. They're considering whether to take a committee vote to do so next week. If they do, it would launch a process that would give Trump five days to approve or reject the request. If he approves, as GOP lawmakers expect, the memo could become public as soon as next Wednesday.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, also tells The Plum Line's Greg Sargent the Nunes memo misrepresents the classified information referenced.
“It’s highly distorted spin by Nunes,” Schiff told me. “The Nunes spin memo distorts the underlying materials and has presented Members with a very misleading impression of what those materials show.”
Nadler calls GOP memo criticizing FBI 'profoundly misleading' (Politico)
Letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte
Republicans launch extraordinary new tactics to protect Trump on Russia (WaPo's The Plum Line)