Shortly after congressional Republicans released the House Intelligence Committee’s controversial memo, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, blasted the document as “reckless.”
“The release of this memo by House Intelligence Committee Republicans and the White House, over the objections of the FBI and the Department of Justice, is reckless and demonstrates an astonishing disregard for the truth,” he said.
Warner said that the memo crafted by Republican staffers for House Intelligence Commitee Chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) is misleading.
“Unlike almost every House member who voted in favor of this memo’s release, I have actually read the underlying documents on which the memo was based. They simply do not support its conclusions,” he said.
He also charged that the release of the memo will make it harder for the Senate committee to continue with its Russia investigation.
“This unprecedented public disclosure of classified material during an ongoing criminal investigation is dangerous to our national security. This will make it far more difficult for the Intelligence Committees to conduct meaningful, bipartisan oversight of intelligence activities in the future. This action was also taken without regard to the damage it could do to our ability to protect Americans from threats around the globe.
