2nd LD: U.S. congressional panel releases redacted Democratic intelligence memo

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House Intelligence Committee on Saturday released a classified Democratic memo that counters GOP claims that the FBI abused government surveillance powers in its Russia investigation.

Parts of the 10-page document, written by the panel's top Democrat Adam Schiff, were redacted to avoid revealing intelligence-gathering sources and methods. The White House rejected its release earlier this month, suggesting that sensitive information had to be first removed.

The memo argued that the FBI had valid justification for obtaining warrants to run surveillance on Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump, long before it received information in a dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.

Steele was hired to compile opposition research on Trump when he was a candidate. The Democratic memo said that the information in the dossier was a small part of the case which the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI officials laid out in requesting for the court's permission to spy on Page and in seeking renewals.

According to Democrats, federal officials told the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that they suspected Steele's motive to compile the dossier, an account contradictory to a Republican memo released late January, but they failed to identify the political nature of the dossier's origins.

"The Democratic response memo released today should put to rest any concerns that the American people might have as to the conduct of the FBI, the Justice Department and the FISC," Schiff said in a statement.

He said the Democratic review of the initial application to eavesdrop on Page and three subsequent renewals "failed to uncover any evidence of illegal, unethical, or unprofessional behavior by law enforcement and instead reveled that both the FBI and the DOJ made extensive showings to justify all four requests."

Trump has said that the GOP memo "vindicates" him in the ongoing Russia investigation led by special counsel Rober Mueller. "Democrat memo response on government surveillance abuses is a total political and legal BUST," Trump tweeted on Saturday.

"Just confirms all of the terrible things that were done," he wrote. "SO ILLEGAL!" Enditem