President Donald Trump has for now stopped the release of the Democrats’ counter-memo, rebutting Republican assertions over the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s “bias” and “surveillance abuses” targeting a former Trump campaign aide as part of its probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.
In a letter to the House Intelligence Committee, White House Counsel Donald McGahn said although the President is “inclined to declassify” the Democratic memo, he is “unable to do so at this time” because it contains “numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages”.
He went on to say that the Justice Department had identified portions of the Democrats’ memo that it believed “would create especially significant concerns for the national security and law enforcement interests” if disclosed.
Trump, however, directed the Justice Department to give any technical assistance the committee might need to revise the memo to “mitigate the risks identified by the Department”, McGahn said, adding, “The President encourages the Committee to undertake these efforts.”
Democrats reacted promptly and sharply, with House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi calling it a “stunningly brazen attempt to cover up the truth about the Trump-Russia scandal from the American people”, adding, “Why won’t the President put our country before his personal and political interestsIJ”
Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer contrasting Trump’s blocking of their memo to the go-ahead given to the Republican memo last week and commenting, “The President’s double standard when it comes to transparency is appalling.”
Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and author of the memo, also slammed Trump’s “double standard”. Nonetheless, the Democrats on the committee will confer with the Justice Department and the FBI to “determine how we can properly inform the American people about the misleading attack on law enforcement by the GOP and address any concerns over sources and methods”.
“We hope this matter can quickly be resolved so the committee can return to its charge – fully investigating the Russian interference in our election and the role of the Trump campaign, and what steps need to be taken to protect against foreign interference in the next election, now only months away,” Schiff said in a statement.
The Republican memo that was made public last week after getting the presidential nod had accused the FBI of suppressing Democratic ties to an opposition research dossier on Trump and Russia that was used to procure a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. That led to the Democratic push to publish their own 10-page counter-memo, accusing the Republicans of misleading and omitting key facts.