House panel votes to release Democratic memo on Russia probe
WASHINGTON » The House intelligence committee voted unanimously Monday night to release a Democratic rebuttal to the GOP’s memo on the Russia investigation that President Donald Trump declassified last week.
The document now goes to Trump, who has five days to decide whether to declassify it.
The Democratic document aims to counter the Republican memo, which accuses the FBI and Justice Department of abusing their authority in monitoring a onetime Trump campaign associate.
A White House spokesman said Trump would “consider” the Democratic memo’s release just as he had the Republican document.
Earlier Monday, Trump traded insults with the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, Rep. Adam Schiff of California.
Trump resorted to his occasional name-calling on Twitter, labeling Schiff “one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington.” He added that Schiff “must be stopped.”
Schiff quickly shot back: “Instead of tweeting false smears, the American people would appreciate it if you turned off the TV and helped solve the funding crisis, protected Dreamers or ... really anything else.”
White House spokesman Raj Shah took a more measured approach, saying consideration of a release would “allow for a legal review, national security review led by the White House counsel’s office.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he supports the release of the Democrats’ memo, if sensitive intelligence information is removed.
The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, urged Trump to back the public release and said refusing to do so would show the president’s intent to undermine the Russia investigation.
On Sunday, Republicans as well as Democrats said Trump was wrong to assert that the GOP-produced memo cleared him in the Russia investigation. Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia as well as whether there have been efforts to obstruct the investigation.
Trump tweeted over the weekend that the memo “totally vindicates ‘Trump’ in probe” even as “the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on.” But that statement found no echo from four committee Republicans who appeared on the Sunday talk shows. Lawmakers also said the memo should not impede Mueller.
“I think it would be a mistake for anyone to suggest that the special counsel shouldn’t complete his work. I support his work. I want him to finish it. I hope he finishes it as quickly as possible,” said Republican Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah.
Schiff has branded the GOP memo “a political hit job” and has questioned whether House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., had coordinated with the White House in drafting the document seized on by the president to vent his grievances against the nation’s premier law enforcement agencies.
“The goal here is to undermine the FBI, discredit the FBI, discredit the Mueller investigation, do the president’s bidding,” Schiff said. “I think it’s very possible his staff worked with the White House.”