Updated February 06, 2018 19:47:00

The House Intelligence Committee has voted unanimously to release a Democratic rebuttal to the GOP's memo on the Russia investigation that President Donald Trump declassified last week.

The document now goes to Mr Trump, who has five days to decide whether to declassify it.

The Democratic document aims to counter the Republican memo, which accuses the FBI and Justice Department of abusing their authority in monitoring a onetime Mr Trump campaign associate.

A White House spokesman said Mr Trump would "consider" the Democratic memo's release just as he had the Republican document.

Yesterday Mr Trump traded insults with the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, Adam Schiff of California.

Mr Trump resorted to his occasional name-calling on Twitter, labelling Mr Schiff "one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington".

Mr Schiff quickly shot back:

White House spokesman Raj Shah took a more measured approach, saying consideration of a release would "allow for a legal review, national security review led by the White House counsel's office".

House Speaker Paul Ryan said he supported the release of the Democrats' memo, if sensitive intelligence information was removed.

'A political hit job'

The Senate's Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, urged Mr Trump to back the public release and said refusing to do so would show the President's intent to undermine the Russia investigation.

On Sunday, Republicans as well as Democrats said Mr Trump was wrong to assert that the GOP-produced memo cleared him in the Russia investigation.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, as well as whether there have been efforts to obstruct the investigation.

The Trump administration has published a controversial, classified memo that raises questions about the FBI's handling of the Russia probe soon. Here's what we know about it.

Mr Trump tweeted over the weekend that the memo "totally vindicates him in probe" even as "the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on".

But that statement found no echo from four committee Republicans who appeared on the Sunday talk shows.

Politicians also said the memo should not impede Mr Mueller.

"I think it would be a mistake for anyone to suggest that the special counsel shouldn't complete his work," said Republican Republican Chris Stewart of Utah.

"I support his work. I want him to finish it. I hope he finishes it as quickly as possible."

Mr Schiff has branded the GOP memo "a political hit job" and has questioned whether House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes had coordinated with the White House in drafting the document seized on by the President to vent his grievances against the nation's premier law enforcement agencies.

"The goal here is to undermine the FBI, discredit the FBI, discredit the Mueller investigation, do the president's bidding," Mr Schiff said.

"I think it's very possible his staff worked with the White House."

Photo: The Republican memo was commissioned by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. (AP: J. Scott Applewhite)

Mr Nunes was asked during a January 29 committee meeting whether he had coordinated the memo with the White House.

"As far as I know, no," he responded, then refused to answer when asked whether his congressional staff members had communicated with the White House.

He had previously apologised for sharing with the White House secret intelligence intercepts related to an investigation of Russian election interference before talking to committee members.

AP

Topics: donald-trump, world-politics, government-and-politics, united-states

First posted February 06, 2018 12:36:02