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A top GOP senator has urged House Republicans to listen to the FBI's concerns about the controversial Russia memo

Sen. Thune told his colleagues in the House to listen to the FBI, and framed the memo as a national security issue.

  • Top Senate Republican John Thune has called on House Republicans to heed the warning issued by the FBI on the release of the controversial and allegedly misleading memo authored by GOP Rep. Devin Nunes.
  • The FBI had issued a rare statement on the memo, citing "grave concerns" about its accuracy.
  • Democrats in both the House and the Senate have called for immediate action to stop Nunes, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has called for Nunes to be removed from his post on the House Intelligence Committee.
  • President Donald Trump has reportedly read the memo, and supports its release.

A top Senate Republican has joined Democrats, national security experts, and some fellow Republicans in urging caution ahead of the release of a memo authored by House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, and said advocates of the memo's release should heed the warning issued by the FBI on Wednesday.

Sen. John Thune, who is the third most highly ranked Republican in the Senate, framed the release of the controversial memo, which alleges partisan bias and misconduct on the part of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI with regard to surveillance of President Donald Trump's former campaign staff after he took office, as a national security matter.

"They need to pay careful attention to what our folks who protect us have to say about what this, you know, how this bears on our national security," Thune told reporters on Thursday.

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Thune was referring to a statement issued by the FBI on the memo on Wednesday.

"With regard to the House Intelligence Committee's memorandum, the FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it," the statement read. "As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy."

"It would be helpful," Thune said. "I think that Senator Burr would like to see it and hasn't been able to yet."

Trump was sent the memo for review after it was approved for release, and the president reportedly read the memo on Thursday, according to The Washington Post. Trump has previously said that he is committed to releasing it because he believes it will discredit the Russia investigation. But Schiff claims that the memo Trump read had been altered by Nunes — and consequentially was not the version that was approved for release.

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