'He must be stopped': Trump lashes out at top Dem on House intel panel

President Donald Trump lashed out at the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee Monday, a day after Democrats and Republicans said Trump was wrong to assert that a GOP-produced classified memo on FBI surveillance powers cleared him in the Russia investigation.

The House intelligence panel plans to meet Monday afternoon and is expected to consider whether to release a Democratic rebuttal memo. The committee rejected that move last week, with one Republican member saying revisions were needed so the memo would not endanger national security.

Trump would decide whether to release the memo if it contains classified information.

A White House official said Monday that the administration would consider releasing the Democratic memo, subjecting it to a similar review process as the Republican memo. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and sought anonymity to discuss internal thinking.

The Senate's Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, has urged Trump to back the public release and said that refusing to do so would show the president's intent to undermine the Russia investigation.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia as well as whether there have been efforts to obstruct the investigation.

House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he supports the release of the Democrats' memo, if sensitive intelligence information is removed.

Trump strode into the debate Monday on Twitter, saying: "Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper! Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!"

Schiff has branded the GOP memo "a political hit job" and has questioned whether the chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., had coordinated with the White House in drafting the document seized on by the president to vent his grievances against the nation's premier law enforcement agencies.

"The goal here is to undermine the FBI, discredit the FBI, discredit the Mueller investigation, do the president's bidding," Schiff said. "I think it's very possible his staff worked with the White House."

Nunes was asked during a Jan. 29 committee meeting whether he had coordinated the memo with the White House. "As far as I know, no," he responded, then refused to answer when asked whether his staff members had communicated with the White House. He had previously apologized for sharing with the White House secret intelligence intercepts related to an investigation of Russian election interference before talking to committee members.

Trump's Saturday tweet that the memo "totally vindicates 'Trump' in probe" even as "the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on" found no echo from four committee Republicans who appeared on the Sunday talk shows.

Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said, "I think this is a separate issue." Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, said, "No, it doesn't end that." Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said, "I don't," when asked whether he agreed with Trump. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., asked whether the memo affected the investigation, said, "No, not to me, it doesn't, and I was pretty integrally involved in the drafting of it."