“I think they need to pay careful attention to what our folks who protect us have to say about how this bears on our national security," Sen. John Thune said of Republicans pushing for their own memo’s release. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images A GOP leader says Senate needs to see FBI memo before release Sen. John Thune also backs making a Democratic rebuttal public if the Republicans' disputed report is posted.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — The Senate Intelligence Committee should be able to view a classified memo alleging wrongdoing by the FBI before it is made public, and Republicans should also release a competing memo written by House Democrats, a top Senate Republican said Thursday.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) should be able to view the memo before President Donald Trump releases it, said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 Senate Republican. Burr so far has been unable to view it.


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

He also said that because of concerns by the FBI about the accuracy of the Republican memo, House Democrats’ rebuttal memo should be made public at the same time.

“I think they have to take into consideration what the FBI is saying,” Thune said of Republicans pushing for their own memo’s release. “I think they need to pay careful attention to what our folks who protect us have to say about how this bears on our national security.”

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He also joined Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in urging the White House to slow down its release of the memo in order to make sure national intelligence sources and methods weren’t compromised. The FBI has said it has “grave concerns” over some of the material, which House Republicans say shows that the FBI improperly monitored the Trump campaign in 2016.

“There are important national security considerations they need to weigh, and hopefully they’re doing that,” Thune said. “If there are things that need to be redacted, I think they need to pay careful attention to what our folks who protect us have to say about how this bears on our national security.”

House Republicans say that work has already been done, and spent Wednesday urging Trump to release the memo as quickly as he can.

“I want the memo to come out. I think that’s the most important thing,” said Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. “The document has been very carefully worked with regard to thousands of pages of source documents, which as chairman of the Judiciary Committee I've had access to and read them.”

