Paul Ryan wants the FISA memo released, but for a surprising reason

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) backed the members of the Republican Party who were demanding the release of the controversial FISA memo, but parted with many on the rhetoric describing its contents.

Here's what Paul Ryan said

“What this is not is an indictment on our institutions, of our justice system," Ryan said, who made the comments at a GOP retreat in West Virginia.

"This memo is not an indictment of the FBI, of the Department of Justice," he explained. "It does not impugn [special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia] investigation or the deputy attorney general.”

“What it is is the Congress’s legitimate function of oversight to make sure the FISA process is being used correctly,” he continued. “If it wasn’t being used correctly, that needs to come to light and people need to be held accountable so this doesn’t affect our civil liberties.”

What have others said?

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is one of the most vociferous critics of the FBI and the Department of Justice based on what he says he read in the four-page FISA memo.

"I have read the memo," he tweeted. "The sickening reality has set in. I no longer hold out hope there is an innocent explanation for the information the public has seen. I have long said it is worse than Watergate."

Former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka said the memo "makes the cause of the American Revolution look like a small incident in a kindergarten playground."

The memo appears to be heading toward public release, pending approval from President Trump.