Senior Democrats have warned President Donald Trump not to use a controversial memo as a "pretext" to fire the special counsel investigating alleged Russian involvement in the US election.

They warned that such action could trigger a constitutional crisis not seen since the Nixon era.

The memo, written by Republicans, accuses the FBI of abusing its powers.

President Trump approved the declassification of the memo and said it revealed a disgraceful story.

It accuses the FBI and the justice department of using an unsubstantiated and Democratic-funded report to obtain the warrant that gave permission to spy on an aide to Mr Trump.

Democrats said the release of the memo was aimed at disrupting investigations into alleged links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. President Trump has consistently denied any such collusion.

The FBI had warned against the memo's release and said key facts had been omitted.

What have Democrats said?

Democrats say the memo, released on Friday, is a "shameful effort to discredit" the FBI and inquiries into Russian meddling.

In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Nancy Pelosi and eight other senior Democrats warned Mr Trump against trying to sack special counsel Robert Mueller or the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein.

"We write to inform you that we would consider such an unwarranted action as an attempt to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation," the statement said.

They said such action could result in a constitutional crisis not seen since the 1970s when then President Richard Nixon gave orders to fire justice officials involved in the Watergate scandal.

The White House later said "no changes" would be made at the Department of Justice and Mr Rosenstein was fully expected to continue in his job.

What is in the memo?

It focuses on the court-approved wiretapping of Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign who was put under electronic surveillance by the FBI.

But the memo accuses the FBI and the justice department of using unsubstantiated evidence to obtain the October 2016 warrant.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by BBC NEWS

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