Trump defends his move to declassify Russia documents

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump repeated a specious claim Tuesday that the FBI spied on his campaign and suggested that his decision to declassify documents from the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election would reveal misconduct by federal law enforcement.

In morning tweets apparently quoting from a television appearance by Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., Mr. Trump wrote, “What will be disclosed is that there was no basis for these FISA Warrants, that the important information was kept from the court, there’s going to be a disproportionate influence of the (Fake) Dossier. Basically you have a counterterrorism tool used to spy on a presidential campaign, which is unprecedented in our history.”

“Really bad things were happening, but they are now being exposed,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Big stuff!”

Later, in the Oval Office, the president called the Russia investigation a “witch hunt” and said he hoped to bring “total transparency.”

“The things that have been found over the last couple of weeks about text messages back and forth are a disgrace to our nation,” he said.

The comments are a reference to Mr. Trump’s order on Monday that the Justice Department declassify materials related to the Russia investigation, including portions of a secret court order to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The order was issued under what is known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is referred to in national security circles as FISA.