The White House Counsel Don McGahn informed the House Intelligence committee on Friday that Trump had declined to declassify the Democrat memo citing reasons against national security. The Democrats were against the decision quoting that Trump was unrealistic to release the Republican memo and declined to release the Democrat memo a week after. The White House Counsel also highlighted the areas in the document that have sensitive information, not for the public. He advised the intelligence panel to review the memo so that the President could release it in favor of his transparency.
Likewise, like the Republican memo, the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Justice Department advised Trump that the Democrat memo had sensitive aspects that protect intelligence sources and intelligence methods. Therefore, it should not be released to the public. A different solution was that parts of the document could be redacted by the President but Trump acknowledged it was a trap. He preferred to send the memo back for a redo.
Trading Steamy Allegations over the Memo
The Democrat contingent in the House Intelligence Committee is willing to black out sections of their memo to avert unearthing secrets harmful to national security. Their memo is a rebuttal of the Republican memo that allegedly vindicates Donald trump against the Russian probe. The probe is an investigation into Russia’s involvement in America’s 2016 presidential elections. The agreement to review the document came after both sides traded allegations against one another.
California Rep. Adam Schiff stated that Trump is putting his personal interests above that of the country by blocking the memo. He added that the memo undermines Trump’s claim of vindication in the ongoing Russian probe headed by Robert Mueller. While on a television interview with CBS, Schiff claimed that Trump does not want the public to understand the underlying facts that constituted the Republican memo.
Marc Short, the White House Legislative Director while in a different forum with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” countered Schiff’s claims. He reiterated Trump’s accusations stating that the Democrats padded their memo with sensitive information knowing that the President will decline to release it. He added that the Democrats agenda is to make the President look obstructive. Short concluded by saying they are not afraid of transparency while there is a high likelihood the memo will be released.
Devin Nunes, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee voiced his sentiments claiming that the Democrats goal was to make public important information knowing that it would be redacted by the President. He implied that if the Democrats were keen on getting their memo out, they would have been on the panel all day on Saturday redacting the document.
