House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday advocated for the release of the controversial House Intelligence Committee memo while stressing it should be treated separately from the special counsel investigation.
Ryan stressed "transparency" in backing the release of the memo, CNN reported, authored by Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intel panel, which reportedly criticizes the Justice Department for abuses in its surveillance of former campaign aide Carter Page.
"I think we should disclose all this stuff. I think sources and methods we've gotta protect, no two ways about it for sure, 100 percent," Ryan told reporters.
"But I think disclosure is the way to go. It's the best disinfectant. And I think we need to disclose, that brings us accountability, that brings us transparency, that helps us clean up any problem we have with (the Justice Department) and FBI.
"Let it all out, get it all out there. Cleanse the organization," Ryan said.
However, Ryan also said the memo should not be treated as a referendum on Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
"I think because of all the loose political rhetoric floating around here, we need to make sure we explain that there is a separation between these things," Ryan told reporters.
The intel panel voted Monday to declassify the Nunes memo and make it public, sending it to the desk of President Donald Trump.
Trump's approval would pit him against his own Justice Department, which has been adamant in its position that the memo should not be released.
The memo accuses Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of overreach in authorizing an extension to a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) surveillance warrant on Page. Republicans say the DOJ based it on an unverified Trump dossier.
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