Lawmakers: GOP memo doesn’t clear Trump in Russia probe
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was wrong to assert that a GOP produced classified memo on FBI surveillance powers cleared him in the Russia investigation, Democratic and Republican lawmakers said Sunday. They expressed hope that special counsel Robert Mueller’s work would continue without interference.
Democrats could seek a vote on publicly releasing their rebuttal memo when the GOP-led House Intelligence Committee meets late Monday afternoon. The committee rejected that move last week, with one Republican member saying revisions were needed so the memo would not endanger national security. The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, urged Mr. Trump to back the public release and said that refusing to do so would show the president’s intent to undermine the Russia investigation.
The committee’s top Democrat, California Rep. Adam Schiff, branded the 3½-page GOP memo “a political hit job.” He questioned whether the chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., had coordinated with the White House in drafting the document seized on by the president to vent his grievances against the nation’s premier law enforcement agencies.
“The goal here is to undermine the FBI, discredit the FBI, discredit the Mr. Mueller investigation, do the president’s bidding,” said Mr. Schiff, who is expected Monday to offer a motion to release his party’s response to the Republican document. “I think it’s very possible his staff worked with the White House.”
Mr. Nunes was asked during a Jan. 29 committee meeting whether he had coordinated the memo with the White House. “As far as I know, no,” he responded, then refused to answer when asked whether his staff members had communicated with the White House. He had previously apologized for sharing with the White House secret intelligence intercepts related to an investigation of Russian election interference before talking to committee members.
Mr. Nunes did not participate in interviews Sunday.
Mr. Trump’s Saturday tweet that the memo “totally vindicates ‘Trump’ in probe” even as “the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on” found no echo from four committee Republicans who appeared on the Sunday talk show, namely, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas and rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.
When Mr. Gowdy was asked whether the memo affected the investigation, said, “No, not to me, it doesn’t, and I was pretty integrally involved in the drafting of it.” He’s the only Republican on the committee who’s read classified documents that are the basis of the disputed four-page memo.