According to The Washington Post, President Donald Trump called for the release of a classified memo allegedly detailing abuses by the U.S. government. Top officials at the Department of Justice warned him that releasing the classified document would be “extraordinarily reckless” if it did not first get an official review.
John Kelly, Trump’s chief of staff, reportedly noted Trump’s desire to see the memo released to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to a senior administration official. However, Congress will make the final decision on whether the memo will be released.
The senior administration official stated:
[Trump] is inclined to have that released just because it will shed light. Apparently all the rumors are that it will shed light, it will help the investigators come to a conclusion. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]On Thursday evening, Democrat Adam Schiff announced that in the aftermath of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ much-ballyhooed memo on supposed malfeasance inside the FBI and Department of Justice regarding FISA issues involved in the Trump-Russia collusion investigation, he had a memo of his own. That memo, he suggested, would rebut the suggestions in Nunes’ memo that the Mueller investigation was fatally flawed from the outset by bias inside our intelligence agencies.
Schiff isn’t the only person pushing back against Nunes’ memo. The Department of Justice issued a letter on Thursday blasting Nunes for attempting to release information that it said would damage national security:
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]JUST IN: DOJ's Stephen Boyd has sent a letter to @DevinNunes saying release of *the memo* without review by DOJ/FBI would be "extraordinarily reckless." Says the memo purports to be based on "classified source materials that neither you nor most of" the committee "have seen." pic.twitter.com/F0pmL34vhk
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 24, 2018
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said Tuesday that he is confident President Trump would allow the public release of a memo on alleged surveillance abuses.
“I can tell you the president is going to allow this to be released,” Gaetz said on Fox News on Tuesday.
Dozens of Republican lawmakers have pushed for the release of the four-page report, written by the GOP majority in the House Intelligence Committee, as they say it contains evidence of misuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by the Obama administration to spy on Trump associates.
Should the intelligence panel give the OK, then Trump would have five days to block its unveiling to the public.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters earlier in the day that the president supports “full transparency” when it comes to the House Intelligence Committee’s memo, but declined to directly confirm Trump would allow its release. – READ MORE
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