A top Justice Department official announced Friday that the agency and the FBI would be making an "extraordinary accommodation" to members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) by allowing its members access to review applications and renewals granted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the Washington Examiner reported.
The letter sent by Asst. Attorney General Stephen Boyd was addressed to House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., explaining it was in response to a request he received April 4.
Nunes on Wednesday sent a letter to the FBI demanding unredacted original copies of a bureau document that outlined the probable cause to begin an investigation into members of the Trump campaign in 2016. In the letter he gave officials an April 11 deadline to reply to the request.
In February, the House Intelligence Committee released a controversial Republican memo that detailed surveillance practices on Trump campaign members that claimed an unverified dossier and a news article were used as sources to begin spying.
The memo, written by Nunes, partially explained how the Justice Department obtained a FISA warrant to spy on Trump campaign member Carter Page.
In Friday's letter, Boyd explained that only Nunes and ranking committee member Schiff, their designees or designated committee staff had previously been able to view certain documents.
"To date, that accommodation has occurred through briefings and numerous in camera reviews of classified materials," the letter read.
The letter said now all HPSCI members would be able to review "the FISA applications and renewals in camera at the Department." The opportunity will also be extended to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the letter also stated.
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee also released their own memo in February after Nunes' memo was released, but with redactions.