Trump has called the investigation a "witch hunt," denying any collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice. (Photo: File) Washington: US President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress on Friday escalated a campaign against US law enforcement agencies over their probe of Trump’s ties to Russia, releasing a disputed memo that the FBI warned was misleading and inaccurate. Moscow has denied any election meddling.Democrats said the four-page memo mischaracterizes highly sensitive classified information."The selective release and politicization of classified information sets a terrible precedent and will do long-term damage to the Intelligence Community and our law enforcement agencies," House intelligence committee Democrats said in a statement.It alleged that a dossier of alleged Trump-Russia contacts compiled by Steele, and funded in part by US Democrats, formed an "essential part" of requests to a special court to be allowed to conduct electronic surveillance on Page that began in October 2016."Some lawmakers accused Trump of playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin after, as Republican Senator John McCain put it, Russia "engaged in an elaborate plot to interfere in an American election and undermine our democracy. Writing on Twitter, Comey branded the memo "dishonest and misleading.The memo alleges that the Federal Bureau of Investigation concealed the Democratic ties of a source the agency used to justify surveillance on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign advisor with ties to Russia. "I stand by our shared determination to do our work independently and by the book," Wray said in the message, excerpts of which were seen by Reuters.The previously classified document, written by Republicans on the House of Representatives intelligence committee, alleges that the federal probe of potential collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia was a product of political bias against Trump at the FBI and Justice Department. Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat in May 2016 that Russia had political dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, information Australian officials passed to the US government, the New York Times reported in December.Ignoring a plea from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Trump approved the memo’s release without redactions, deepening an extraordinary breach between the president and senior law enforcement officials over a probe that has dogged him during his first year in office.""If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin’s job for him," McCain, who is being treated for brain cancer, said in a statement. He said it laid bare "serious violations of the public trust, and the American people Threaded Rod Din Suppliers have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes.They warned Trump against using it as a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who hired Mueller and oversees the investigation, or Mueller himself."We fully expect Rod Rosenstein to continue on as the deputy attorney general," he said.Also Read: Trump accuses justice dept, FBI of bias, releases memo‘Sacred investigative process’In a swipe at US law enforcement leaders on Twitter hours before the memo’s release, Trump said, "The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favour of Democrats and against Republicans – something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago."FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a message to bureau employees apparently aimed at boosting morale after the memo’s release. It also portrayed Steele as "passionate" about Trump not becoming president.The FBI on Wednesday had expressed "grave concerns about material omissions of fact" in the document and urged that it not be made public.When asked about the potential dismissal of Rosenstein, White House press spokesman Raj Shah told CNN late on Friday that there would be "no changes" at the Justice Department. Trump has called the investigation a ‘witch hunt,’ denying any collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice."Attorney General Jeff Sessions, criticized by Trump for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, offered praise for Rosenstein as well as the department’s No 3 official Rachel Brand on Friday, saying they "represent the kind of quality and leadership that we want in the department.A White House official later said there have been no discussions about firing Rosenstein.The memo was commissioned by the Republican chairman of the House intelligence panel, Devin Nunes.They said they hoped the panel would vote on Monday to release their own memo responding to the allegations.Mueller also is examining whether Trump has committed obstruction of justice in trying to thwart the Russia probe.Despite the memo’s charges, neither the focus on Page nor the FBI’s investigation of Trump-Russia ties began with the Steele dossier."It was his latest attack on top law enforcement officials. Page came to the FBI’s attention as early as 2013, when he met in New York with Russians who were officers of the Kremlin’s foreign intelligence service, sources have said.Mueller’s probe has led to guilty pleas by two of Trump’s foreign policy advisers to charges of lying to the FBI, and indictments of former campaign manager Paul Manafort and Manafort’s business partner Rick Gates