Dismissing President Donald Trump’s claim that last Friday’s release of a declassified Republican memo “vindicates” him in the ongoing Russia probe, Democrats are pushing for the release of their own counter-memo, rebutting accusations of FBI “bias” and “surveillance abuses” targeting a former Trump campaign aide.
The issue will be decided by a fresh vote by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee later on Monday. In the earlier vote, the committee had approved declassification of the Republican memo, but rejected the Democrat memo. Even if the committee clears it this time, it will still be up to President Trump to approve or reject its release.
Trump himself took a shot on Monday at Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, accusing him of leaking confidential information coming before the committee at its closed-door hearings.
“little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper!” Trump tweeted, adding: “Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!”
Schiff, one of the key Democrats to keep up the pressure in the Russia probe, lost little time to hit back at Trump. “Mr President, I see you’ve had a busy morning of “Executive Time”. Instead of tweeting false smears, the American people would appreciate if you turned off the TV and helped solve the funding crisis, protected Dreamers or…really anything else,” Schiff tweeted.
Three of the four other persons targeted by Trump in the tweet are top intelligence guns from the Obama-era -- former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. The fourth is Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Schiff pooh-poohed Trump’s claim of vindication, noting in a separate tweet: “Quite the opposite, Mr President. The most important fact disclosed in this otherwise shoddy (Republican) memo was that FBI investigation began July 2016 with your advisor, Papadopoulos, who was secretly discussing stolen (Hillary) Clinton emails with the Russians.”
While the Republican memo accused the FBI of going by an anti-Trump dossier funded by Democrats for spying on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, the Democrats, led by Schiff, have sought to reject this contention and denounce the Republican memo as a politically-motivated effort to undermine the Russia investigation and protect Trump. Schiff termed Trump’s decision to release the Republican memo attacking the FBNI and Justice Department “a transparent attempt to discredit these institutions and undermine (Special Counsel Robert) Mueller’s probe”.