Trump pulls back from declassifying Russia documents
WASHINGTON — In a rare retreat, President Donald Trump on Friday reversed himself and said he was no longer demanding that documents related to the Russia investigation be immediately declassified and released to the public.
Taking to Twitter on Friday morning, Trump said that instead of an immediate release, Justice Department officials would review the documents, adding “in the end I can always declassify if it proves necessary.”
Less than a week ago, Trump had ordered that law enforcement and intelligence agencies declassify and release the documents, which include text messages about the Russia inquiry, along with other documents related to the surveillance of a former Trump aide.
A White House statement Monday said the president had called for the “immediate declassification” of pages of an application to wiretap Carter Page, his former campaign official, and all FBI reports about the bureau’s interviews with Bruce Ohr, a Justice Department official who had knowledge of the Russia investigation.
It also directed the Justice Department “to publicly release” unredacted text messages relating to the Russia investigation that were sent by former FBI officials James Comey and Andrew McCabe, and by three department employees: Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Ohr.
Through much of the past week, intelligence officials had been pushing back at Trump’s order, warning that sources and methods could be revealed, according to U.S. officials briefed on the intelligence agencies’ concerns. Those worries eventually flowed back to the White House, and Trump relented from his first declaration that the communications would be released unredacted. It was a rare win for an intelligence community that has often had to accede to Trump’s demands.
Ordering the release of the documents had been a cause célèbre for Trump’s most fervent supporters on Capitol Hill and at conservative media outlets, who have for months been claiming that the release of the documents would help prove a liberal plot to undermine Trump.
The president’s abrupt reversal could anger those supporters if they view the decision as evidence that Trump exhibited weakness by caving to pressure from within his own administration.
In his tweets, Trump said Justice Department officials had agreed to release the unredacted documents, but had also warned of what the president called “a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe.” The tweet did not explain further.
The president also said in the tweet — without elaboration — that “key Allies” had called to urge him not to declassify the documents.
According to a former U.S. official and a former British official, the British government expressed grave concerns to the U.S. government about the release of classified information.
The material includes direct references to conversations between U.S. law enforcement officials and Christopher Steele, the former British spy who compiled a dossier alleging ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Britain’s objection, these former officials said, was over revealing Steele’s identity in an official document, regardless of whether he had been named in press reports.
Some of the documents at issue involve the beginnings of the Russia investigation, when law enforcement officials submitted an application seeking permission from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to wiretap Page. Trump and his Republican allies have claimed that law enforcement officials misled the court to get that permission.
The president’s declassification order Monday called on law enforcement officials to release about two dozen pages from the surveillance application. Much of the application has already been released, but Trump’s order would make more of the application available to the public.
Trump and his allies claim it will show that officials misled the court by not disclosing that the application was based in part on the dossier, which they believe should be discredited as a partisan document funded in part by Democrats.