Trump expected to declassify rebuttal memo

The White House is inclined to declassify a Democratic rebuttal to the controversial GOP-penned memo that claims the FBI unlawfully spied on a Trump campaign adviser, according to a report Thursday.

An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Wall Street Journal that Trump is expected to release the Democratic addendum to the four-page Republican memo today.

“The White House understands that withholding the document is not the right response,” the official said.

Trump and his aides are in the process of discussing whether the Democratic rebuttal needs to be redacted over national security concerns, the source added. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has reportedly been pushing for redactions, saying that the Democratic memo is “not as clean” as its Republican counterpart.

On Tuesday, Kelly told reporters that Trump hadn’t yet read the 10-page Democratic rebuttal because it’s “quite lengthy.”

A White House press official declined to confirm an exact release date for the Democratic document, telling reporters Thursday that a review process is “ongoing.”

Trump declassified the GOP memo last week after the House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines to release it, despite FBI and Justice Department brass expressing “grave” concerns about its accuracy.

The GOP memo, penned by the committee’s chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., alleges that FBI officials used information from the Steele dossier to obtain a surveillance warrant for ex-Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

The dossier, named for its author, former British spy Christopher Steele, contains explosive and unverified claims that the Kremlin obtained damaging information on Trump and is blackmailing him to do its bidding.