Trump attacks FBI leaders ahead of memo release

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump accused the FBI and the Justice Department on Friday of bias against Republicans. “The top leadership and investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats,” he tweeted Friday morning. The latest salvo in Trump’s spat against the agency comes just before the president plans to release a controversial memo Republicans say shows abuses of power and bias within the FBI over the Russia investigation. A senior White House official told reporters Thursday the president could send the memo back to Capitol Hill for public release as early as Friday. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Trump has read the memo and does not plan to include any redactions to the classified document despite warnings from intelligence officers. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed concern about releasing the four-page document. Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee compiled the memo and voted to release it but still need the president’s approval to make it public. The document suggests political bias tainted the origins of the FBI’s investigation into Russian hacking and interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible connections to the Trump campaign. The FBI said the memo includes inaccuracies about the bureau’s work and opposes making it public. Democratic leaders have asked House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to intervene, but he quickly brushed off that idea. “The memo is Congress doing its job and conducting legitimate oversight,” Ryan told reporters Thursday.