House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Monday clashed with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo over the memo Republicans say shows an anti-Trump bias, calling the document a "total misrepresentation" and saying it should be reviewed by the intelligence community before being released.
Cuomo at one point asked Pelosi why FBI Director Christopher Wray didn't publicly come out against releasing the document, to which Pelosi shot back: "Let me just say this with all due respect, you really don’t know what you’re talking about right now."
The memo, written by committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and his staff, alleged that DOJ and FBI officials reportedly weren't forthright when they asked a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge to obtain a warrant for surveillance of Carter Page.
"I think (Paul Ryan) has a major responsibility and what I call a cover up of what they are doing, it's really very sad," Pelosi said at the start of the interview. "But again, it's a cover up, it's a distraction. What really we are trying to do right now is keep government open. They have a problem with that because they are ineffective."
Cuomo said he understood why Americans would want it released, to which Pelosi answered: “This is not to be politicized. … It’s not about making up a false memo.”
Her comments follow a vote by the GOP-majority House Intelligence Committee to release the memo.
Trump has five days to review the document and make a decision on whether to try to block it from the public, but the White House has indicated it wants the memo out.