WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines Monday to declassify a memo written by Republicans alleging anti-Trump bias at the Justice Department.
Representative Adam Schiff, the panel's senior Democrat, told reporters Monday that the committee also voted along party lines not to release a Democratic-drafted memo that countered the Republican description.
The four-page GOP memo was written by staff at the direction the panel's Republican Chairman Devin Nunes and discusses FBI surveillance practices.
It would be released to the public if given the go-ahead by the White House, which has up to five days to review it.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Monday that no decision had been made.
The memo has been at the center of an intensifying dispute between Republicans and Democrats over the investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
Several House members have said the document is critical of the Russia probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller, who was reportedly looking into any attempts by Trump to obstruct the investigation.
Republicans have said the memo will reveal dangerous bias against President Donald Trump, while Democrats have labeled it as misleading and intended to undermine Mueller's work.
The House Intelligence Committee is also running its own Russia probe, which is expected to continue, according to Schiff, despite the tumultuous episode marking the deep partisan divide and political infighting over it.
The Department of Justice has previously said that it opposed the memo's release, claiming it contains classified information that could harm U.S. intelligence gathering.
