Press Releases

Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), sent a letter to Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), to request an emergency briefing with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, on his concerns regarding the “Nunes memo,” a set of misleading talking points drafted by the Republican staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that House Republicans and the White House plan to release to the public in an attempt to discredit the FBI and undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

On January 31, 2018, the FBI released a statement to express their “grave concerns about the material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”  

Read today’s letter to Goodlatte here and below.

Chairman Bob Goodlatte

House Committee on the Judiciary

2138 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Goodlatte:

            As you know, the White House may release the so-called “Nunes memo,” a set of talking points drafted by Republican staffers in an apparent attempt to discredit the work of the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller. 

            On January 24, 2018, the Department of Justice wrote to warn the House Intelligence Committee that releasing the memo would be “extraordinarily reckless.”  On January 29, the FBI issued a statement citing “grave concerns” with inaccuracies and omissions in that document.  On January 30, the Majority twice blocked our request to move the Committee into closed session, where we would be free to discuss our own concerns with the plan to make this information public.

            I write to ask that we call FBI Director Wray and other representatives from the Department of Justice to appear on an emergency basis before the Committee—on a formal or informal basis—to brief us on their concerns.  It is imperative that we hear directly from these officials about the security and law enforcement implications of making this information public.  Because many of our Members have not read the underlying materials, it is also important that we hear about any inaccuracies or key omissions from the Nunes document.  Thank you for your prompt attention to this request. 

                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                        __________________________

                                                                        Jerrold Nadler

                                                                        Ranking Member

                                                                        House Committee on the Judiciary

cc:  Democratic Members of the House Committee on the Judiciary

BACKGROUND:

On January 30, 2018, House Judiciary Committee Republicans repeatedly blocked Democratic requests to discuss concerns related to the “Nunes memo” and to allow Judiciary Members to read the memo’s source material. Watch part one here. Watch part two here.  

On January 23, 2018, after reviewing the “Nunes memo,” Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler immediately wrote to Chairman Bob Goodlatte to express his concerns regarding its accuracy and to ask that the source material be made available to all Members of the Judiciary Committee.  The letter to Goodlatte isavailable here. 

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