The US President voiced his concerns about the Democrat memo on Saturday. He was silent on the matter on Friday when the White House notified the House Intelligence Committee that the memo could not be declassified and released because of national security concerns. Trump said on Saturday that the memo was a political trap to attack his administration against the blame for lack of transparency.
The White House Counsel put through an official letter to the intelligence committee and a different one to lawmakers in Congress explaining that the memo contained sensitive information that if released, will compromise intelligence sources and methods used in the Russian probe. The letter explained to the intelligence panel that they needed to review the document in order to allow the President to release it. The letter to the lawmakers comprised a markup version of the memo showing the areas of concern that needed to be reviewed.
Trump Responds to the Democrats Move
Trump asserted on Saturday that the Democrats were not being transparent with their memo agenda. He accused them of playing politics with classified information. Weighing in with a tweet, Trump said that the Democrats sent a very long and political memo which they knew because of the sensitive information it contained, would have to be heavily redacted. A move that will prompt the Democrats to blame the White House for lacking transparency in the matter.
The President advised the Democrats to work on the memo and send it back in proper form. The President’s move to send back the memo for review implies he took a calculated decision not to fall into the Democrats’ “trap,” but instead showed that he was willing to play ball. White House Counsel, Don McGahn stated in his letter that the President requests for the memo redo to allow its release as a show transparency.
Implications of Declining to Release the Memo
Despite the President’s decision to reject the memo, it is still in contrast to the manner he embraced the Republican Memo. The Republican memo accused the Justice Department and the FBI of misusing their surveillance powers to monitor Carter Page, Trumps’ former campaign advisor.
It is also evident that even before Trump read the Republican document, he pledged to declassify and release it to the public. An anonymous source alleged that they heard the President informing a congressman that he (the President) will release the Republican document. He said this after his State of the Union address. Trump released the memo under the objections of the Justice Department and the FBI.
In light of all the memo events, it is still implied that the President may have wished to absolve himself from the Russian probe or that he too is playing politics with classified information.
