FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2018, file photo, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks during a TV news interview on Capitol Hill in Washington. Collins on Sunday, Jan. 28, said President Donald Trump would be... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2018, file photo, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks during a TV news interview on Capitol Hill in Washington. Collins on Sunday, Jan. 28, said President Donald Trump would be... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the probe into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia (all times local): 
 
 6:25 p.m. 
 
 Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have voted to release a classified memo they wrote that alleges that the FBI and the Justice Department improperly used government surveillance during the investigation into Russian election interference and contacts with President Donald Trump's campaign. 
 
 That's according to Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee. Schiff says Democrats on the committee voted against releasing the memo. 
 
 The vote to release the memo comes after committee Republicans, led by chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, a California Republican, pushed for its disclosure. The memo addresses a dossier of allegations against Trump compiled by a former British spy, and questions over whether it was used to obtain surveillance warrants. 
 
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 2:25 p.m. 
 
 The White House says President Donald Trump has not decided whether he'd authorize the release of a classified House Intelligence Committee memo, but says he favors "full transparency." 
 
 The House committee may vote as soon as Monday to release the memo that Republicans say alleges FBI misconduct. 
 
 White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that "no one" at the White House has seen the memo, so the president was not prepared to make a decision. 
 
 A number of conservatives favor releasing the memo, which they believe could discredit the findings of the investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. 
 
 White House aides have previously said Trump favored releasing the document, which is in contrast to the stance of the Justice Department. 
 
 ___ 
 
 2:30 a.m. 
 
 Two Republican senators say President Donald Trump would be wise to keep a public silence on an independent investigation into his 2016 campaign's contacts with Russia. 
 
 That's in the wake of news reports that he sought to fire the special counsel. 
 
 The senators, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine, also urged special counsel Robert Mueller Sunday to review whether Trump tried to fire him last June, an accusation the president has labeled "fake news." 
 
 Graham, co-sponsor of legislation that would protect Mueller from being fired without a legal basis, said he would be "glad to pass it tomorrow." But he insisted that Mueller's job appeared to be in no immediate danger, pointing to the political costs if Trump did remove him. ||||| Trey Gowdy had urged Devin Nunes (above) to share a classified memo that alleges misconduct by senior officials at the FBI with both Chris Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images House panel votes to release secret memo Earlier, Trey Gowdy lobbied Devin Nunes to share the controversial memo with the FBI director. 
 
 Republicans on the House intelligence committee voted Monday in favor of releasing a classified memo that alleges misconduct by senior FBI officials involved in the Russia probe, despite objections from the Department of Justice. 
 
 The GOP-led panel voted along party lines to release the secret document — which was written by Republicans — and against making public a competing memo Democrats had crafted, said Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee. The group also rejected a proposal to give the Justice Department and FBI more time to vet the Republican document, he said. 
 
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 The memo has been a source of escalating partisan tension in Congress. Republicans argue it shows wrongdoing by FBI officials involved in surveillance of a Trump campaign aide, while Democrats say it mischaracterizes intelligence and is an attempt to distract from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. 
 
 In a sign of the House GOP's growing suspicions toward the FBI — as well as the influence of Donald Trump's allies who wanted the memo made public — the panel voted to publish the document only a day after sharing it with the FBI director, who was appointed by the president. 
 
 "We have crossed a deeply regrettable line on this committee," Schiff said. "We had votes today to politicize the intelligence process, to prohibit the FBI and the Department of Justice from expressing their concerns to our committee and to the House, and to selectively release to the public the majority’s distorted memo." 
 
 House intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes showed FBI Director Christopher Wray the memo on Sunday after Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) pressured him to share its contents with the bureau, two people familiar with the meeting said Monday. Gowdy also wanted Nunes to let Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein see the memo too, but he did not join them Sunday. 
 
 In their meeting, Nunes told Wray he could flag any factual errors, national security concerns or material that could put FBI sources at risk, according to the people familiar with the meeting. Schiff said Wray told him his concerns with the memo were not alleviated just because he reviewed it. 
 
 "The review did not satisfy, I think, either the bureau or [DOJ's] concerns," Schiff said. "The director of the FBI asked for the opportunity to come before the committee and express those concerns." He said Republicans also formally confirmed on Monday that they are probing conduct by senior officials at the Department of Justice and FBI. 
 
 Committee Republicans did agree to share Democrats' competing memo with the rest of the House, which they called a precursor to potentially releasing it publicly. Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) told reporters the Democratic memo "should be" released after House members have time to review it. 
 
 Trump now has five days to either object to the committee's request or clear the way for the memo's release. The White House said earlier on Monday that no decision would be made until lawmakers voted. 
 
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 "It will be subjected to appropriate and serious review before a decision is made. The President strongly favors transparency for the American people and has urged the Executive Branch to cooperate with Congress to the fullest extent appropriate," said White House lawyer Ty Cobb in a statement Monday. 
 
 Three people who have seen the memo told POLITICO recently that it accuses senior FBI officials of abusing a classified surveillance program, known as FISA, to spy on a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser. Obtaining a warrant under FISA requires the FBI to present an application to a court with evidence that indicates the target is acting on behalf of a foreign power. 
 
 The GOP has complained that the FBI included in its evidence material culled from a dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele that described illicit connections between Trump and Russia. Steele compiled the dossier in 2016 on behalf of research firm Fusion GPS, which was being paid by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. 
 
 The New York Times reported Monday that the memo also reveals that deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein approved an application to extend the surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page in early 2017. 
 
 Though Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, helped craft the memo and has championed its public release, he said on "Fox News Sunday" that he believed the FBI should see the memo before it comes out. He also said it shouldn't be used to interfere with Mueller's probe. 
 
 "I told my Republican colleagues, ‘Leave him the hell alone,’ and that’s still my advice,” Gowdy said. 
 
 Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), a member of the House intelligence committee and a former CIA officer, said he was not concerned about a Justice Department warning that releasing the memo without DOJ review could jeopardize national security. "I spent most of my adult life protecting sources and methods. I’m going to continue doing that," he said. 
 
 Rachael Bade contributed to this report. ||||| “The Democratic response memo released today should put to rest any concerns that the American people might have as to the conduct of the FBI, the Justice Department and the FISC," Rep. Adam Schiff said in a statement. | AP Photo Democratic memo: FBI was investigating Trump campaign associates weeks before receiving dossier The document’s release opens a new partisan front. 
 
 The FBI team investigating the 2016 Trump campaign's contacts with Russians had already opened inquiries into multiple people connected to the campaign when it received a controversial dossier alleging illicit ties between then-candidate Donald Trump and the Kremlin, a Democratic memo released by the House Intelligence Committee revealed Saturday. 
 
 The dossier, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, wasn't provided to the FBI's counterintelligence team until mid-September 2016, according to the memo. By then, the counterintelligence investigation into Trump's campaign was seven weeks old. "The FBI had already opened sub-inquiries into ... individuals linked to the Trump campaign," according to the findings of the committee's nine Democrats. 
 
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 The committee posted the heavily redacted 10-page document Saturday after weeks of wrangling between the panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, and Justice Department officials over the contours of classified material he hoped to release. 
 
 It's unclear whether the memo was declassified by Trump or whether the redactions advised by the FBI and Justice Department omitted any remaining classified details in the Democratic document. But it opens a new partisan front in a battle that has consumed the House Intelligence Committee and has all but derailed its efforts to probe Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. 
 
 That probe has stalled even as special counsel Robert Mueller's criminal investigation into the Russian scheme has gained momentum, most starkly with last week's indictment of 13 Russians for mounting a complex operation to steal Americans' identities, stage campaign rallies in the United States and run a social media campaign that primarily supported Trump and opposed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. 
 
 Trump on Saturday called the memo a "bust," tweeting: "The Democrat memo response on government surveillance abuses is a total political and legal BUST. Just confirms all of the terrible things that were done. SO ILLEGAL!" 
 
 The Democratic memorandum was meant as a counterweight to a GOP memo that Trump declassified three weeks earlier, claiming that FBI officials misled a secret court to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump camp foreign policy adviser Carter Page. The Republican memo argued that the so-called Steele Dossier was at the heart of the FBI's request for a surveillance warrant on Page — and that the agents who sought it failed to disclose to a federal judge that Steele's work was financed by the campaign of Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. 
 
 The Democratic memo, though, reveals that the FBI did inform the judge of Steele's political intentions — that he was "likely looking for information that could be used to discredit" Trump. And FBI officials indicated that Steele himself was not advised that the work he was doing was on behalf of the Clinton campaign. 
 
 Trump argued on Twitter on Saturday: "Dem Memo: FBI did not disclose who the clients were — the Clinton Campaign and the DNC. Wow!" 
 
 The memo also reveals that the FBI’s application to spy on Page — and three subsequent renewals — were approved by four different judges, all appointed by Republican presidents. 
 
 In addition, the memo suggests the FBI corroborated elements of Steele’s dossier pertaining to Page when it sought renewals. It also emphasizes that the bureau didn’t rely on the dossier’s most salacious allegations to obtain a warrant to spy on Page. 
 
 The Democratic memo indicates that the FBI’s fact-finding contradicted Page’s testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in November about his meetings with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign. The passage on elements of the dossier that may have been corroborated is heavily redacted, but it alludes to Page's contacts with Russian officials on his 2016 trips to Moscow. 
 
 In a statement, Schiff said: “The Democratic response memo released today should put to rest any concerns that the American people might have as to the conduct of the FBI, the Justice Department and the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]." 
 
 "Our extensive review of the initial [surveillance] application and three subsequent renewals failed to uncover any evidence of illegal, unethical, or unprofessional behavior by law enforcement and instead revealed that both the FBI and DOJ made extensive showings to justify all four requests," he said. 
 
 At the time of the memo's release, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) was addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference, a gathering of conservative activists, in Maryland. Nunes has been at the center of the debate over the Republican-led memo, which Trump approved for release on Feb. 2. 
 
 From the stage, Nunes said Democrats are "colluding with part of the government to cover up" the FBI's alleged abuses. 
 
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 "We think it is clear that the Democrats are not not only trying to cover it up, but are colluding with parts of the government to help cover this up," Nunes said. "As you read it, you will see personal attacks on myself and chairman [Rep. Trey] Gowdy with a lot of interesting things that sound really bad, like a lot that has been happening with this Russian investigation over the course of the last year, but what you're not going to see is anything that actually rejects what was in our memo." 
 
 In a later statement, Nunes said: “The American people now clearly understand that the FBI used political dirt paid for by the Democratic Party to spy on an American citizen from the Republican Party." 
 
 "Furthermore, the FISA court was misled about Mr. Page’s past interactions with the FBI in which he helped build a case against Russian operatives in America who were brought to justice," Nunes said. "It defies belief that the Department of Justice and FBI failed to provide information to a secret court that they had provided to an open federal court regarding their past interactions with Mr. Page.” 
 
 In Nunes' point-by-point rebuttal of the Democratic memo, he takes issue with the Democrats' claim that Steele's reporting was corroborated by the FBI. Though Democrats said "multiple independent sources" had backed up parts of Steele's dossier pertaining to Page, the most damaging aspects "remain unconfirmed," the committee Republicans noted. 
 
 Steele, the Republicans said, was the only source suggesting Page met in Moscow in July 2016 with a top Russian energy executive with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin — Igor Sechin — and senior Russian government official Igor Diveykin. 
 
 "At the time of the initial [surveillance] application, all of the Steele dossier’s specific claims about Page — including that he met with Igor Sechin and Igor Diveykin in Moscow in July 2016 — were uncorroborated by any independent source, and they remain unconfirmed," the Republicans said. 
 
 In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the Democrats' memo "attempts to undercut the president politically" but said he supported its release "in the interest of transparency." 
 
 "This politically driven document fails to answer serious concerns raised by the Majority’s memorandum about the use of partisan opposition research from one candidate, loaded with uncorroborated allegations, as a basis to ask a court to approve surveillance of a former associate of another candidate, at the height of a presidential campaign," Sanders said. 
 
 A spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement: “The speaker has called for transparency and is glad this memo was released with appropriate redactions to protect intelligence sources and methods. The speaker has read the memo, and despite the new assertions by the minority, there remain civil liberty concerns about the way this particular FISA application was carried out. The speaker continues to have concerns with partisan political research being used for law enforcement and counter-intelligence decision making, and he believes the government must do a better job providing a full picture to the court when applying for FISA warrants.” 
 
 Based on previously classified information, the Nunes memo contains allegations that top officials at the FBI and Department of Justice officials abused their abilities to conduct surveillance by relying on the disputed Steele dossier as evidence for an application to spy on a Trump campaign adviser. The push to release the memo became a cause célèbre among conservatives. 
 
 Schiff and fellow Democrats had complained that Nunes' memo cherrypicked information and gave an inaccurate portrayal on how federal officials sought and secured a special warrant to spy on Page. 
 
 Brent D. Griffiths contributed to this report.
– It's all up to President Trump now. The House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines Monday to release a controversial memo that alleges wrongdoing on the part of the Justice Department and the FBI in regard to the Russia investigation, reports Politico. Democrats are fuming over the decision. Trump now has five days to decide whether to allow the memo to be released; his approval is necessary because it's a classified document. The memo alleges that the FBI and the Justice Department improperly used government surveillance during the investigation into Russian election interference and contacts with Trump's campaign, per the AP. The vote to release the memo comes after committee Republicans, led by chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, pushed for its disclosure. The memo addresses a dossier of allegations against Trump compiled by a former British spy, and questions over whether it was improperly used to obtain surveillance warrants. The panel's ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, announced the vote results Monday while criticizing the Republicans' decision. Democrats generally say the memo cherry-picks facts and presents a distorted view of things.