Top Justice Department officials urged White House not to make secret memo public

Rod Rosenstein.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray spent their Monday appealing to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, warning him of the danger in making a secret memo compiled by Republicans public, several people briefed on the meeting told The Washington Post.

The memo claims to show abuses by top FBI officials, and Rosenstein said that not only could the four-page document jeopardize classified information, but the Department of Justice is not convinced that it's even entirely accurate. Kelly told Rosenstein President Trump is leaning toward releasing the memo, but it will go through a review by the National Security Council and White House Counsel's Office, a senior administration official told the Post.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.