House Republicans, led by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, are reportedly in the process of moving forward on releasing the explosive classified memo on alleged surveillance abuses.
According to the Washington Examiner’s Byron York, Reps. Nunes, Gowdy, and Goodlatte met on Saturday to discuss memo and chart a path forward.
Today: Reps. Nunes, Gowdy, and Goodlatte met to discuss memo, are said to be 'charting a path forward.' What does that mean? Obvious goal is to make memo public; steps between now and then unclear; could take 2-3 weeks. 2/2
— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 20, 2018
In addition to York, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) also shared information about the effort to release the memo on Twitter Saturday.
According to Joyce, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) is in the process of releasing the classified memo. The process may take up to 19 congressional work days.
Great news! Our efforts to #ReleaseTheMemo have been effective and the HPSIC plans to begin the process to release the FBI/FISA/Russia memo. This may take up to 19+ Congressional work days but Americans deserve to know the truth.
— Dave Joyce (@RepDaveJoyce) January 20, 2018
A group of 65 Republican lawmakers pushed for the immediate release of the alleged bombshell document in a letter to Nunes on Friday.
In the letter, Florida Rep. Gaetz states thate “the audience of this document should not be limited to Members of Congress — the American people deserve to know the information it contains.”
Approximately 180 members have now read the memo, including at least three Democrats, according to York.
CNN reported on Saturday that Republicans on the HPSCI were “considering using an obscure committee rule” to bypass executive branch declassification hurdles in order to publicly release the memo.
Rep. Mike Conaway, the Texas Republican leading the committee’s Russia investigation, said he believed the rule “had never been invoked in the committee’s 40-year history.”
The four-page memo reveals what some Republicans are calling “shocking,” “troubling,” and “alarming” government surveillance abuses under President Obama. One congressman — Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) — even likened the details of the memo currently circulating in Congress to “KGB activity in Russia.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said that when the details of the document become known, not only are some Obama holdovers currently serving in the Trump administration going to get fired, they are going to jail.
If the committee votes in favor to make the bombshell document public, it falls on President Donald Trump to decide whether it should be released.
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