Monday evening the House Intelligence Committee, led by Republicans, voted to release a classified memo which allegedly shows abuse conducted by the FBI during the 2016 presidential election.
During the weekly House leadership press conference Tuesday morning, Ryan backed the Committee's decision.
"I think we should disclose all this stuff. I think sources and methods we've gotta protect, no two ways about it for sure, 100%. But I think disclosure is the way to go. It's the best disinfectant. And I think we need to disclose, that brings us accountability, that brings us transparency, that helps us clean up any problem we have with [DOJ] and FBI," Ryan said.
"There may have been malfeasance at the FBI by certain individuals," he continued. "So it is our job in conducting transparent oversight of the executive branch to get to the bottom of that. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. And so what we want is all of this information to come out so that transparency can reign supreme and accountability can occur."
Ryan also told Fox News' Mike Emmanuel the FBI needs to go through a "cleanse" and face accountability before trust can be restored.
“Let it all out. Get it all out there. Cleanse the organization. I think we should disclose all this stuff. It’s the best disinfectant. Accountability," he said.
The fate of whether the memo becomes public is now in the hands of President Trump, who has five days to make a decision about its release.
During the press briefing Monday afternoon and before the Committee voted, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said a final decision has not been made and argued the process is important.
"No one at the White House has actually seen the memo, so it would be hard for us to make a decision or to speak about it before that would take place," Sanders said. "Right now, we're letting the House process play out. And if and when it's time for the White House to weigh in, we'll do that through the proper protocol, making sure we follow legal process But again, we're not to that point in the process yet."
Meanwhile, Democrats are condemning calls to release the memo.
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