President Donald Trump is set to clear the way for the release of the Nunes memo that alleges an abuse of power by the FBI and others in the leadup to the 2016 presidential election. On Thursday The New York Times reported that Trump was set to allow the House Intelligence Committee to make the memo public on Friday despite calls from Democrats and some in the intelligence community.

But Mr. Trump wanted the memo out. He had told people close to him that he believes it makes the case that law enforcement officials acted inappropriately in seeking the highly classified warrant on one of his campaign advisers, Carter Page.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Thursday defended the memo and its primary author, Representative Devin Nunes, Republican of California, saying the document was not an attack on institutions like the F.B.I. and Justice Department, and was not meant to undermine the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.  

Most media outlets, after at first ignoring the memo, have been running with the narrative that the contents could be explosive and are not proven, meaning they could undermine key democratic institutions. These same media outlets regularly run every rumor they can find about Donald Trump regardless of what that does to undermine the presidency.

The memo is said to state that the FBI acted improperly, relying heavily on the Fusion/GPS dossier on President Trump to obtain a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain what is called a FISA warrant on Trump advisor Carter Page.

Members of Congress that have seen the memo and support its release say the document is damning, with some saying it's worse than Watergate and shows problems at the top of the FBI.