The Denver Post

Still secret.

The Trump administra­tion says it won’t declassify a Democratic memo on the Russian probe.

- By Chad Day and Mary Clare Jalonik

Citing national security concerns, the White House on Friday formally notified the House intelligen­ce committee that President Donald Trump is “unable” to declassify a memo drafted by Democrats that counters GOP allegation­s about abuse of government surveillan­ce powers in the FBI’s Russia probe.

White House counsel Don McGahn said in a letter to the committee that the memo contains “numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages” and asked the Democrats to revise the memo with the help of the Justice Department. He said Trump is still “inclined” to release the memo in the interest of transparen­cy if revisions are made.

The president’s rejection of the Democratic memo is in contrast to his pledge to release the Republican document before reading it. The president declassifi­ed that document last week, allowing its publicatio­n in full.

The president has said the GOP memo “vindicates” him in the ongoing Russia investigat­ion led by special counsel Robert Mueller. But congressio­nal Democrats and Republican­s, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, who helped draft the GOP memo, have said it shouldn’t be used to undermine the special counsel.

On Friday, White House spokesman Raj Shah said Trump discussed the Democratic document with the White House counsel’s office, FBI Director Christophe­r Wray and another top Justice Department official.

The president had until Saturday to decide whether to allow the classified material to become public after the committee voted Monday to release it.

In declining to declassify the document, the White House also sent lawmakers a letter signed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Wray, as well as a marked-up copy of the memo, laying out portions it considers too sensitive to make public.

Among those passages are some that the Justice Department­s says could compromise intelligen­ce sources and methods, ongoing investigat­ions and national security if disclosed.

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