Dems taking another run at memo
WASHINGTON — Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are prepared to black out parts of their memo about the FBI’s Russia investigation to ensure there’s no harmful spilling of secrets, then try again to get President Donald Trump to let it come out. A White House aide said Sunday he’s confident it will be released once Democrats “clean it up.”
That possible nudge toward progress came as both sides traded steamy recriminations over the matter.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Mr. Trump is putting his personal interest above the country’s in blocking a memo that “completely undermines his claim of vindication” in special counsel Robert Mueller’s continuing investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign’s relationship with Russian interests and Russia’s meddling in the election. “The president doesn’t want the public to see the underlying facts,” Mr. Schiff said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
The White House legislative director, Marc Short, countered that Democrats padded their memo with sensitive information, knowing Mr. Trump would stop its release, in an effort to make him look obstructionist.
“We’re not afraid of transparency,” Mr. Short said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” ‘’I think you’re going to see us release the memo.”
Mr. Trump overrode strong Justice Department objections when he declassified a Republican memo alleging an abuse of surveillance powers in the FBI’s Russia investigation. The FBI expressed “grave concerns” about the memo’s accuracy and the Justice Department said in advance that its release, without proper review, would be “extraordinarily reckless.”
But Mr. Trump has blocked the Democratic document, which tries to counter the Republican allegations of surveillance excesses. The president has the authority to keep such information under wraps, and exercised it only againstthe Democrats.
“Their goal here is to put the FBI on trial, to put Bob Mueller’s investigation on trial, and the president is only too happy to accommodate,” Mr. Schiff said.
Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the intelligence panel, said if Democrats were intent on making important information public, they should get to work. “Their memo is sitting at the House Intelligence Committee down at the bottom of the Capitol waiting to be redacted,” the California Republican told Fox News. “If they really wanted to get it out, they’d be down there all day yesterday redacting it, getting it back over to the White House so that the public can knowwhat’s in it.”
Mr. Schiff said Democrats showed the memo to the Justice Department and the FBI and asked for their feedback before bringing it to the intelligence panel, anddid not hear complaints about inaccuracy. But he said Democrats will “sit down with the FBI and go through any concerns that they have” about the disclosure of classified intelligence. “We will redact it to make sure that we’re very protective of sources and methods,” Mr. Schiff said.
$1.5T infrastructure plan
Mr. Trump on Monday will unveil his long-awaited infrastructure plan, a $1.5 trillion proposal that fulfills a number of campaign goals, but relies heavily on state and local governments to produce much of the funding.
The administration’s plan is centered on using $200 billion in federal money to leverage local and state tax dollars to fix America’s infrastructure, such as roads, highways, ports and airports.
Administration officials previewing the plan said it would feature two key components: an injection of funding for new investments and help speed up repairs of crumbling roads and airports, as well as a streamlined permitting process that would truncate the wait time to get projects underway. Officials said the $200 billion in federal support would come from cuts to existing programs.
Half the money would go to grants for transportation, water, flood control, cleanup at some of the country’s most polluted sites and other projects.
Details of the infrastructure plan came as the White House on Sunday evening began revealing several partsof Mr. Trump’s budget plan that falls far short of eliminating the government’ s deficit over 10 years
Immigration talks begin
The Senate begins a rare, open-ended debate on immigration and the fate of the “Dreamer” immigrants on Monday, and Republican senators say they’ll introduce Mr. Trump’s plan.
Seven GOP senators said late Sunday that they will introduce Mr. Trump’s framework, which they called a reasonable compromise that has White House backing. The group includes Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, John Cornyn of Texas and Iowa’s Chuck Grassley.
Democrats adamantly oppose Mr. Trump’s plan, particularly its barring of legal immigrants from sponsoring their parents or siblings to live in the U.S.