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FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) President Thomas O’Connor issued a statement following the memo's release.

“The men and women of the FBI put their lives on the line every day in the fight against terrorists and criminals because of their dedication to our country and the Constitution," he said.

"The American people should know that they continue to be well-served by the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency. FBI Special Agents have not, and will not, allow partisan politics to distract us from our solemn commitment to our mission.”

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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes says that the panel found "serious violations of the public trust, and the American people have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes".

"Our intelligence and law enforcement agencies exist to defend the American people, not to be exploited to target one group on behalf of another."

The Republican congressman adds that he hopes the memo will lead to "reforms that allow the American people to have full faith and confidence in their governing institutions".

Democratic Senator Bill Nelson agreed with Senator McCain's assessment.

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Republican Senator John McCain, who points out in a statement that the US intelligence community concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, has indirectly condemned Trump's attack on the FBI this morning.

"The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests – no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s", he said.

The 2008 presidential candidate adds that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation must continue unimpeded.

"Our nation’s elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin’s job for him."

The memo says the FBI withheld key information when it applied to a top intelligence court for a warrant to spy on Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

The memo reads: "Material and relevant information was omitted.

1) The "dossier" compiled by [ex-British spy] Christopher Steele (Steele dossier) on behalf of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign formed an essential part of the Carter page FISA application. Steele was a longtime FBI source who was paid over $160,000 by the DNC and Clinton campaign, via the law firm Perkins Coie and research firm Fusion GPS, to obtain derogatory information on Donald Trump's ties to Russia."

Carter Page, the Trump campaign aide who was the target of FBI surveillance, drew attention from law enforcement officials over several trips he made to Russia in 2016.

He adamantly denies allegations in the so-called Steele dossier, compiled to dig up dirt on Trump, that he served as an intermediary between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.

Here's our profile of Page.

The BBC's Anthony Zurcher points out right-leaning publications were the first to be provided with a copy of the Republican memo.

The memo has just been published by the House Intel Committee, but the website has crashed as everyone in Washington and beyond tries to pore over it.

Here's the link., external

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The four-page memo was commissioned by the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes.

He is a California Republican and former dairy farmer, seen as a close ally of Trump.

Nunes served on the president’s White House transition team, but made headlines last March after he publicly announced members of the Trump campaign had been put under surveillance by the Obama administration.

The announcement came a day after he made a clandestine visit to the White House.

Nunes then recused himself from any investigations into the Trump campaign’s Russia contacts.

He stepped back after House investigators opened an ethics inquiry into whether Nunes had disclosed classified intelligence to the White House.

Earlier on Friday, the president railed against the justice department, which oversees the FBI, accusing top officials of having "politicized" the agency in order to damage the Republican party.

The justice department has warned the memo's release could jeopardise intelligence-gathering and damage trust between the agency and lawmakers.

Fox News, which has already seen the memo, reports that it shows a former British intelligence official passed information to the FBI through Department of Justice official Bruce Ohr.

Ohr's wife, Nellie, had been working for Fusion GPS, the research firm that helped to produce the dossier which alleges Trump contacts with Russia.

Fusion GPS, a Washington-based research firm, was hired by conservatives and later by the Hillary Clinton's campaign to dig up dirt on Trump during the 2016 election race.

The House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines on Monday to release the memo, giving Trump five days to decide whether to de-classify the information it contains. White House spokesman Raj Shah told Fox News on Thursday the document was under “national security and legal review".

On Wednesday evening, a top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Republicans altered some of the text in the four-page document.

California Congressman Adam Schiff said the memo the committee had voted on was “materially altered” before it was sent to Mr Trump.

A spokesman for Republican chairman Devin Nunes, who compiled the memo, called Schiff’s statement an "increasingly strange attempt to thwart publication".

Trump just said in the White House: "I think it’s terrible. I think it’s a disgrace what’s happening in our country.

"A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that."

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The controversial memo that has pitted the White House against the Department of Justice and the FBI has been declassified by President Trump.

The Republican memo claims to prove anti-Trump bias at the FBI, and that agents abused a surveillance programme to target members of the Trump campaign.

But the FBI and Democrats in Congress say the document does not paint a complete picture.

The FBI has publicly complained of "material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy".

But earlier today, Trump launched a fresh attack against the FBI which he says "politicised the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans".

Trump accuses FBI leadership amid row over memo