House Intelligence Committee Democrats on Saturday released their memo defending the Justice Department (DOJ) and FBI against allegations of surveillance abuses made in a memo by committee Republicans.

The 10-page Democratic memo charges that the Republican memo was wrong to assert that the FBI's investigation of Russian election meddling resulted from the creation of the so-called Steele dossier — an unverified private intelligence document detailing Trump's ties to Russia.

The Democratic memo claims that the FBI had been investigating Trump associates for seven weeks before the dossier, authored by former British spy Christopher Steele, was handed over to them. This, according to the memo, means that the FBI did not rely on the dossier to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to spy on Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

The GOP memo — which was assembled by House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes Devin Gerald NunesSunday shows preview: Justice Ginsburg dies, sparking partisan battle over vacancy before election Sunday shows preview: With less than two months to go, race for the White House heats up Sunday shows preview: Republicans gear up for national convention, USPS debate continues in Washington MORE (R-Calif.) and his staff — depicted a Justice Department fractured by bias against Trump while he was a candidate, but did not specify any particular criminal statutes that may have been violated.

According to the GOP document, information from the Steele dossier was "essential" to the acquisition of surveillance warrants on Trump campaign aide Carter Page. It claims that then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe Andrew George McCabeGraham: Comey to testify about FBI's Russia probe, Mueller declined invitation Barr criticizes DOJ in speech declaring all agency power 'is invested in the attorney general' GOP votes to authorize subpoenas, depositions in Obama-era probe MORE told the committee in December that without the information from the Steele dossier, no surveillance warrant for Page would have been sought.

Aside from rebutting these claims, the new Democrat memo reveals that the FISA warrant and its three subsequent renewals were approved by judges who were appointed by Republican presidents.

The memo also shows that FBI fact-finding contradicted Page's sworn testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, and corroborated parts of the Steele dossier relating to Page.

In the document, Democrats also assert that House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) did not read many of the underlying classified documents that Democrats say contradict his claims.

ADVERTISEMENT "The Committee Majority's memorandum, which draws selectively on highly sensitive classified information, includes other distortions and misrepresentations that are contradicted by the underlying classified documents," the memo reads, "which the vast majority of Members of the Committee and the House have not had the opportunity to review, and which Chairman Nunes chose not to read himself."

Trump claimed at the time of its release, that the information in the GOP memo "totally vindicates" him in the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the election. Meanwhile, House conservatives have been touting the memo's revelations as “worse than Watergate” and hinted that it could prove the undoing of the federal investigation into Trump’s campaign.

Dem.countermemo by M Mali on Scribd

Updated at 8:00 p.m.