Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Thursday compared the possible release of an Intelligence Committee memo that reportedly bashes the FBI's surveillance techniques to the infamous, Communist-hunting fervor of Sen. Joe McCarthy in the 1950s.
"The release of this memo is really reminiscent of the darkest days of the McCarthy era with character assassination," the Connecticut Democrat said on CNN.
"It endangers methods and sources of the intelligence community, and it reflects an effort to distract from the [special counsel Robert] Mueller investigation, which now is tightening its vice with this interview with Mark Corallo."
According to The New York Times, Corallo, who served as a spokesman for Trump's legal team before resigning last July, is expected to speak with Mueller over his concerns that White House communications director Hope Hicks might consider obstructing justice.
Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said Republicans are using similar tactics to McCarthy's witch-hunting to accuse the FBI of political bias in a bid to pull the rug out from under Mueller.
Mueller is probing Russia's interference with the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign was involved.
On Monday, the House Intelligence Committee voted to release the memo to the public, although it has yet to come out. Bluementhal repeated Democratic claims that Intelligence chair Devin Nunes made alterations to the memo, which Republicans say were just minor grammatical changes.
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