Democrats plan to counter GOP attacks on the FBI with a secret memo of their own

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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (right) and ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff.

• Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee drafted a memo countering Republicans' claims that the FBI and Department of Justice are biased against President Donald Trump.
• Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee's ranking Democrat, said he will introduce a new memo on Monday to reveal what he says is the "misleading" nature of Republicans' attacks against the FBI and the DOJ.
• Republicans and Democrats have been at odds for months over the conduct of the special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

The House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Adam Schiff, threatened Wednesday to expose Republicans who he says have attacked the FBI and the Department of Justice in an attempt to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

Republicans are clamoring for intelligence officials to publicly release a memo written by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes and his aides, outlining purported illegal surveillance by the Obama administration during the transition period after Trump was elected. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said the facts in the memo are "jaw-dropping." Another Republican, North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, said that he was "shocked to read exactly what has taken place."

The FBI and the DOJ have resisted calls to authorize the memo's release, citing concerns about the classified nature of some information in the document.

Democrats, meanwhile, dispute the way Republicans are characterizing the memo.

In a tweet Wednesday, Schiff called the Nunes document a "spin memo," and later said in a statement that Republicans' attacks against the FBI are "highly misleading."

"This represents another effort to distract from the Russia probe and undermine the Special Counsel," Schiff said. "With this latest gambit, however, the Majority seeks to selectively and misleadingly characterize classified information in an effort to protect the President at any cost."

Schiff says he plans to introduce a Democrat-produced memo to the House Intelligence Committee on Monday. The Democrats' memo intends to counter Republicans' claims that top officials leading the Russia investigation are biased against Trump.

"We need to produce our own memo that lays out the actual facts and show how the majority memo distorts the work of the FBI and the Department of Justice," Schiff told The Washington Post.

Republicans intensified their scrutiny over the integrity of the FBI and the DOJ this week amid reports of an anti-Trump "secret society" and news that the FBI was unable to save thousands of text messages exchanged between two officials found to have been critical of Trump.

Some Republicans have called for a second special counsel to investigate potential bias and corruption within top law enforcement circles.

Trump has led the charge. Last month, he claimed the FBI's reputation was "in Tatters - worst in History!"

He has also repeatedly criticized Mueller's investigation into his campaign's dealings with Russia during the 2016 election, insisting that he did nothing wrong.

"There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, & yet on and on it goes," he tweeted earlier this month. "Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republicans should finally take control!"