WASHINGTON - The US House Intelligence Committee on Saturday released a classified Democratic memo which counters GOP claims that the FBI abused government surveillance powers in its Russia investigation.

Parts of the 10-page document, written by the panel's top Democrat Adam Schiff, were redacted to avoid revealing intelligence-gathering sources and methods. The White House rejected its release earlier this month, suggesting that sensitive information had to be removed first.

The memo argued that the FBI had valid justification for obtaining warrants to run surveillance on Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump, long before it received information in a dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.

Steele was allegedly hired to compile opposition research on Trump when he was candidate. The Democratic memo said that the information in the dossier was a small part of the case which the Justice Department and FBI officials laid out in requesting for the court's permission to spy on Page and in seeking renewals.