Congressman Adam Schiff, (D), the ranking member of the House Committee on Intelligence. Photo / AP
Democrats on the US House Intelligence Committee have defended official investigations into claims of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election in a party memo.
The 10-page, partially-redacted document, which was posted to the panel's website today, sharply criticised a previously released Republican memo as a "transparent effort
to undermine" investigations by the FBI, Justice Department and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The memo defends the FBI's obtaining of warrants to conduct temporary surveillance of Carter Page, an associate of President Donald Trump's election campaign, whom the Democrats say "the FBI assessed to be an agent of the Russian government".
The move comes after weeks of discussions with the Justice Department.
The White House on February 10 objected to its release, citing national security concerns.
