Two conservative-friendly media outlets appeared to receive parts of a controversial House Intelligence Committee before the document's public release and reports from other news organizations.
Both Fox News and the Washington Examiner published key points from the memo — authored by Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes
Devin Gerald NunesSchumer: Nunes intent on undermining 'rule of law' with altered memo Schiff: Nunes gave Trump 'secretly altered' version of memo Former GOP rep rips Nunes over memo: He's chair of Trump's reelection campaign MORE (R-Calif.) and his staff and approved for public release by President Trump
Donald John TrumpSchiff: Nunes gave Trump 'secretly altered' version of memo Davis: ‘Deep state’ existed in ’16 – but it elected Trump Former Trump legal spokesman to testify to Mueller about undisclosed call: report MORE on Friday — before the memo's publication Friday afternoon on the panel's website.
Details of the memo were first reported by Catherine Herridge of Fox News.
The White House and lawmakers often brief select media outlets about major issues before other news organizations are aware, but Friday's release raised eyebrows because of the partisan nature of the memo, which alleges political bias at the Justice Department. Journalists from other outlets complained on Twitter that the release damaged the White House's credibility on the issue.
"Quite the way to make it clear this isn’t political as Trump claimed he wanted to divorce it from," tweeted The New York Times's Maggie Haberman.
Quite the way to make it clear this isn’t political as Trump claimed he wanted to divorce it from https://t.co/xWmDimOQz8
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 2, 2018
NBC's Chuck Todd added that it was "not a good look" for House Republicans for the memo to appear in two often Trump-friendly news outlets before its official release.
Not a good look by the House GOP to release cherry picked excerpts through friendly media outlets in order to build a narrative. Only reinforces the partisan look to all this. A truly nonpartisan act would have been a complete release without cherry picks
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) February 2, 2018
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. In a a statement to CNN, the Washington Examiner's editorial director said he was glad his organization was able to "scoop" more mainstream outlets.
"Our reporters are very plugged in with great sources in Washington so I'm not surprised but I am delighted that we scooped rival news organizations in learning what was in the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] memo that everyone wanted to see," editorial director Hugo Gurdon told CNN.
—Updated at 6:13 p.m.