This article was updated on Feb. 2, 2018. For further coverage of the memo, read here »

WASHINGTON — House Republicans released a secret Intelligence Committee memo on Friday that accuses senior officials at the F.B.I. and the Justice Department of abuses in the early stages of the special counsel’s Russia investigation.

Democrats say the memo is a partisan attempt to undermine the inquiry, and an assistant attorney general, Stephen E. Boyd, said that releasing it without an official review process would be “extraordinarily reckless.” In an unusual public statement, the F.B.I. said it had “grave concerns” about releasing the memo.

Here are answers to some basic questions.

What does the memo say?

The memo is a short summary of some of the intelligence used to support a government request to secretly surveil Carter Page, the former Trump campaign associate.

In order to obtain the warrant, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department had to show a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that they had probable cause to believe that Mr. Page was acting as a Russian agent. The memo describes four applications to surveil Mr. Page. The original request was made on Oct. 21, 2016; investigators have to seek approval to extend the surveillance every 90 days.