Russia probe papers declassified
Files include texts by Comey, portion of FISA warrant
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday declassified a trove of documents related to the early days of the FBI’S Russia investigation, including portions of a secret surveillance warrant and former FBI Director James Comey’s text messages.
Trump made the move in response to calls from his allies in Congress who say they believe the investigation was tainted by anti-trump bias within the ranks of the FBI and the Justice Department.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Trump’s decision in a written statement, saying the president had directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Justice Department to declassify the documents “at the request of a number of committees of Congress, and for reasons of transparency.”
According to the statement,
Trump declassified about 20 pages of the warrant obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and FBI interviews conducted to secure that warrant.
He also is declassifying all FBI reports documenting interviews with senior Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, who was in contact with ex-british spy Christopher Steele.
Steele was a longtime FBI informant whose Democratic-funded research into Trump ties to Russia was compiled into a dossier that has become a partisan lightning rod since its publication in January 2017.
According to Sanders’ statement, Trump also directed the Justice Department to publicly release in full the text messages of Comey, Ohr, former acting FBI Director Andrew Mccabe, former FBI lawyer Lisa
Page and former FBI special agent Peter Strzok.
The declassification of the documents was quickly praised by Trump allies in Congress and attacked by Democrats.
“Transparency wins,” Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said on Twitter. “This is absolutely the right call from POTUS.”
But Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, called Trump’s decision a “clear abuse of power” intended to advance a “false narrative” to help in his defense from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.