Right-leaning media outlets may have gotten a jump on key details in the Nunes memo

Bryan Logan

Feb 3, 2018, 03:55 IST

Right-leaning media outlets may have gotten a jump on key details in the Nunes memo

House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes.

Some right-leaning media outlets began reporting on key details in the disputed Devin Nunes memo released on Friday.
That's according to CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy, who noted that outlets like Fox News and the Washington Examiner had begun reporting top-line points contained in the memo while other outlets scrambled to confirm the information.
The report suggests that the Trump administration authorized the release to outlets friendly to President Donald Trump.

Right-leaning media outlets reportedly got an early look at some key details contained in the disputed Republican memo released on Friday.

That's according to CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy who noted that Fox News and the Washington Examiner began reporting on top-line points contained in the memo while other outlets scrambled to get eyes on the four-page document.

That memo, which President Donald Trump authorized for release on Friday after weeks of hand-wringing over its contents, alleges improper domestic surveillance practices at the FBI and the US Justice Department. According to the memo, those practices were executed by top law-enforcement officials involved in the Russia investigation, in part because of political bias against Trump.

The CNN report suggests that the Trump administration may have authorized select media outlets to receive details from the memo early, which would not be an unusual move. Past administrations have shared information with select news outlets that were later disseminated to other publications. The White House - and Trump in particular - has made no secret of their preference for Fox News, specifically.

The Nunes memo is widely disputed - by current and former officials at the FBI and the DOJ, and within the Democratic Party - due to what they say are inaccuracies and omissions that skew the findings. Democrats have produced their own memo that seeks to rebut claims made in the Republican document.

The former FBI director James Comey criticized the release Friday morning, and Christopher Wray, the current director,sent a letter to encourage FBI employees that read in part: "Talk is cheap; the work you do is what will endure."