Democrats blast Trump’s decision to block their memo
Remind that president overruled secrecy on GOP document
WASHINGTON – Democrats blasted President Donald Trump’s decision to block the release of a memo that challenges Republican claims of surveillance abuse by the FBI, saying the move raises questions about what he’s trying to hide and keeps the public in the dark.
“Trump’s refusal to release all of the facts is another case of the White House putting Trump’s personal interests ahead of the public interest,’’ said Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., a member of the House intelligence committee. “Americans are counting on our government to get to the bottom of Russia’s attack on our democracy, and we cannot allow this administration to derail our work.”
Trump refused on Friday to authorize the release of a Democratic rebuttal to a Republican intelligence committee memo alleging that FBI and Justice Department officials abused their power to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
The White House said it couldn’t release the memo because of Justice Department concerns that it contained sensitive information that could impact national security.
Trump continued his attack in a tweet early Saturday.
“The Democrats sent a very political and long response memo which they knew, because of sources and methods (and more), would have to be heavily redacted, whereupon they would blame the White House for lack of transparency,” he tweeted. “Told them to re-do and send back in proper form!”
Earlier this month, however, Trump released a Republican memo that claimed there was bias by top officials in the FBI and Justice Department against the president. The memo was authorized by California Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
The committee decided on Monday to release the Democratic memo.
California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, said the panel will review the recommended redactions, but complained Trump ignored the FBI and Justice Department when it warned him not to release the Republican’s “deeply flawed and inaccurate memo.”
“After promising to treat the Democratic response in precisely the same way, the White House now seeks to have the Democratic memo sent back to committee and revised by the same majority that produced the flawed Nunes document to begin with,” he said.
House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi of California called Trump’s decision a “stunningly brazen attempt to cover up the truth about the Trump-Russia scandal from the American people.”