Trump urges release of Russia memo
On Wednesday, as Republicans called to make public a classified document they believe will undercut the investigation into Russian meddling, President Donald Trump made clear his desire: release the memo.
Trump’s directive was at odds with the Justice Department, which had warned that releasing the classified memo written by congressional Republicans would be “extraordinarily reckless” without an official review. Nevertheless, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly relayed the president’s view to Attorney General Jeff Sessions — though the decision to release the document ultimately lies with Congress.
Kelly and Sessions spoke twice that day — in person during a small-group afternoon meeting and in a phone call later that evening — and Kelly conveyed Trump’s desire, a senior administration official said.
Trump and his Republican allies have placed special emphasis on the classified memo, which was written by staff for House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and suggests that the FBI may have relied on politically motivated or questionable sources to justify its request for a secret surveillance warrant in the investigation’s early phase. Democrats have characterized the memo as misleading talking points designed to smear the FBI and said it inaccurately summarizes investigative materials that are also classified.
Trump “is inclined to have that released just because it will shed light,” said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Apparently all the rumors are that it will shed light, it will help the investigators come to a conclusion.”
Trump’s reported attempts to pressure senior law enforcement officials through firings or other means have now become one of the main focuses of the investigation — including an order last summer to fire special counsel Robert Mueller that prompted White House counsel Don McGahn to threaten to quit before Trump backed down.
Trump recently revived his complaints that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was not properly supervising Mueller’s probe, and the president has suggested firing Rosenstein — a highly controversial action against the person officially overseeing the special counsel’s investigation, an adviser who speaks frequently with Trump said.
The president also said in recent days that he hopes new questions facing the investigation allow him or his associates to make changes at the Justice Department, two people familiar with Trump’s comments said.
The president has told close advisers that the memo is starting to make people believe the FBI and the Mueller probe is biased against him and that it could provide him with grounds for either firing or forcing Rosenstein to leave, according to one person familiar with his remarks.
One senior White House official said he personally had not heard the president make comments about getting rid of Rosenstein, which were first reported by CNN.
A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment.
One problem, said Barry Bennett, a former senior adviser on the Trump campaign, is that subordinates sometimes confuse Trump’s angry comments for actual administration directives.
“Some people still either don’t understand the difference between the president’s bark and his bite, or they’re more than willing to take advantage of the bark to assume that it was a bite,” Bennett said. “Trust me, everybody on the campaign was ‘fired’ more than once, but it never really happened.”
A person who has spoken with Mueller’s team said investigators’ questions seemed at least partially designed to probe potential obstruction from Trump.
“The questions are about who was where in every meeting, what happened before and after, what the president was saying as he made decisions,” this person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to recount a private session.
To prove obstruction of justice, Mueller would have to show that Trump didn’t just act to derail the investigation but did so with a corrupt motive, such as an effort to hide his own misdeeds. Legal experts are divided over whether the Constitution allows for the president to be indicted while in office. As a result, Mueller might seek to outline his findings about Trump’s actions in a written report rather than bring them in court through criminal charges. It would likely fall to Rosenstein to decide whether to submit the report to Congress, which has the power to open impeachment proceedings.