By Veronica Stracqualursi
CNN
WASHINGTON — Sen. Ben Cardin said Republicans are trying to compromise the independence of the Justice Department with their push to release a classified GOP memo alleging the FBI abused its surveillance authority.
Asked in an interview on CNN’s “New Day” Wednesday if he was prepared for the memo to come out, the Maryland Democrat said, “To me this is sad and dangerous.”
“We’re talking about defending the rule of law, defending the independence of the Department of Justice,” said Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “You would think Congress would stand up for the independence for the Department of Justice.”
He added, “It looks like the Republicans are prepared to compromise our system in order to protect the President.”
On Monday night, the House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines to release the memo, giving the President five days to decide whether or not to make the memo public.
The memo charges that the opposition research dossier on Trump and Russia written by ex-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele was improperly used to secure a FISA surveillance warrant on former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page.
Democrats have called the memo, which was spearheaded by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, “profoundly misleading” and say it’s an effort to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
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