Congress Faces A New Deadline On The Budget This Week : NPR
MARTIN: All right. So Congress hasn't been talking about the budget or immigration. They have been talking about memos - one in particular. Last week ended with the release of this partisan memo written by House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes.  President Trump  says that the memo vindicates  him  on the Russia investigation.  He  - clearly  the president believes that this is going to have some kind of effect.
DETROW: Yeah. It was interesting. You had a lot of Republicans  House Speaker Paul Ryan and others  saying this memo was not about taking down the Mueller investigation. It was not about discrediting the FBI. Then  President Trump  over the weekend comes out and says that it's exactly that - that this proves the Russia investigation is a hoax. So many Republicans actually pushed back on that over the weekend after  President Trump  said that  among them South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy speaking to CBS.
TREY GOWDY: The dossier has nothing to do with a meeting at Trump Tower. The dossier has nothing to do with an email sent by Cambridge Analytica. The dossier really has nothing to do with George Papadopoulos' meeting in Great Britain. It also doesn't have anything to do with obstruction of justice. So there's going to be a Russia probe even without a dossier.
DETROW: Exactly. The argument was that the FBI took this document with partisan beginnings and used it to get wiretaps approved. And Gowdy was laying out several other factors that the FBI was allegedly looking at. But  you know  this memo certainly has muddied the water and led to a lot of Republicans bashing the FBI  bashing the Justice Department. And President Trump seems confident that even if this doesn't undermine the investigation itself  it may undermine public confidence in whatever the investigation concludes.
DETROW: Unclear. The House Intelligence Committee meets this afternoon and may vote on that. Even if they approve it   President Trump  would have to give the final OK. And given the way that  he  views the Republican memo as vindicating  him   hard to see  him  OK'ing...
MARTIN: All right. So Congress hasn't been talking about the budget or immigration. They have been talking about memos - one in particular. Last week ended with the release of this partisan memo written by House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes.  [TGT]says that the memo vindicates  [TGT]  on the Russia investigation.  [TGT]  - clearly  [TGT] believes that this is going to have some kind of effect.
DETROW: Yeah. It was interesting. You had a lot of Republicans  House Speaker Paul Ryan and others  saying this memo was not about taking down the Mueller investigation. It was not about discrediting the FBI. Then  [TGT]over the weekend comes out and says that it's exactly that - that this proves the Russia investigation is a hoax. So many Republicans actually pushed back on that over the weekend after  [TGT]said that  among them South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy speaking to CBS.
TREY GOWDY: The dossier has nothing to do with a meeting at Trump Tower. The dossier has nothing to do with an email sent by Cambridge Analytica. The dossier really has nothing to do with George Papadopoulos' meeting in Great Britain. It also doesn't have anything to do with obstruction of justice. So there's going to be a Russia probe even without a dossier.
DETROW: Exactly. The argument was that the FBI took this document with partisan beginnings and used it to get wiretaps approved. And Gowdy was laying out several other factors that the FBI was allegedly looking at. But  you know  this memo certainly has muddied the water and led to a lot of Republicans bashing the FBI  bashing the Justice Department. And [TGT] seems confident that even if this doesn't undermine the investigation itself  it may undermine public confidence in whatever the investigation concludes.
DETROW: Unclear. The House Intelligence Committee meets this afternoon and may vote on that. Even if they approve it   [TGT]would have to give the final OK. And given the way that  [TGT]  views the Republican memo as vindicating  him   hard to see  him  OK'ing...