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Ex-CIA chief Brennan blasts Republicans over intel memo

Washington(CNN) Former CIA Director John Brennan is calling out Republicans for "reckless partisan behavior" over their handling of a secret memo about the FBI's surveillance practices.

"I had many fights with Congressional Dems over the years on national security matters. But I never witnessed the type of reckless partisan behavior I am now seeing from (Devin) Nunes and House Republicans," Brennan tweeted Thursday morning.

Brennan's tweet was a response to a Washington Post op-ed by the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, who said the decision by Nunes, who chairs the committee, "crosses a dangerous line."

Schiff claimed that the memo "cherry-picks facts, ignores others and smears the FBI and the Justice Department — all while potentially revealing intelligence sources and methods."

Brennan also took aim at the Trump White House for its handling of the memo, saying in his tweet that "absence of moral and ethical leadership in WH is fueling this government crisis."

White House chief of staff John Kelly, speaking on a Fox News radio program on Wednesday, said President Donald Trump and his team were reviewing the memo and would open it to the public shortly, despite resistance from the Justice Department and the FBI. The bureau's director, Christopher Wray, publicly clashed with Trump over the memo on Wednesday, saying the FBI has "grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy."

CNN's Kevin Liptak, Dan Merica and Jeremy Herb contributed to this report
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