Trump accuses senior Democrat Adam Schiff of 'illegally leaking' memo details

Congressman Adam Schiff was one of many Democrats who criticised the release of the memo by the President

US President Donald Trump has accused the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee of "illegally leak[ing] confidential information" in a row over a Republican memo criticising the FBI.

The President, who authorised the release of the previously confidential memo and said it "vindicated" his claims of unfair surveillance from the intelligence committee, also lashed out at a host of former senior intelligence chiefs in addition to Congressman Adam Schiff.

Mr Trump tweeted: "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!"

The tweet refers to ex-FBI director James Comey, senior Democrat Senator Mark Warner, former CIA director John Brennan and James Clapper, the former US Director of National Intelligence.

Mr Schiff and Mr Brennan were among those who criticised the release of the Republican memo which, drafted by House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes, accused senior FBI and Justice Department officials of using unverified information from a politically biased source when they sought a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page and his ties to Russia.

The memo claimed that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) only issued a warrant to surveil Mr Page based on a dossier authored by former UK intelligence officer Christopher Steele.

The memo said there was "clear evidence of [Mr Steele's] bias" against Mr Trump and his "anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations."

In a statement, Mr Nunes had alleged "serious violations of public trust" by the FBI over their conduct in the Russia investigation.

It also argued that Mr Steele should have been terminated by the bureau from his role as a paid FBI source at least one month earlier than he was because of he violated confidentiality rules by speaking to the media and that senior officials within the Department of Justice (DOJ) were aware of Mr Steele's biases.

"Our intelligence and law enforcement agencies exist to defend the American people, not to be exploited to target one group on behalf of another. It is my hope that the Committee’s actions will shine a light on this alarming series of events so we can make reforms that allow the American people to have full faith and confidence in their governing institutions," his statement said.

The memo's release is also seen by many experts has another blow to the already fragile relationship between the FBI and Trump administration, which has been cause for public controversy since Mr Comey's sacking in May 2017.

In the wake of the memo release, Mr Schiff said in a statement that "the Republican document mischaracterises highly sensitive classified information that few members of Congress have seen, and which Chairman Nunes himself chose not to review," Mr Schiff said.

Democrats told CNN that former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe never said the Steele dossier was the basis for the FISA warrant.

Asha Rangappa, a law professor at Yale and former FBI counterintelligence agent who has applied for surveillance warrants, told BuzzFeed News that in order to get the warrant “there would have been a massive case file that could have been open for months or years with surveillance logs and interviews with sources...I just can’t imagine they would have relied only on the dossier."