Earlier this week, the Democrats in the House Intelligence Committee voted to have their memo declassified. The Republicans had their memo declassified and released last week with an objective of exposing how the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Justice Department misused their powers to target the President. The Democrat memo is a rebuttal to the Republican memo. It seeks to clarify that the allegations made by the Republicans on their memo were not true.
The White House officially alerted the intelligence committee that Trump was incapable of declassifying the memo drafted by the Democrats citing the reason as a threat to national security.
The Republican memo is one issue that has exposed the partisan divide in American politics for the last three weeks. The predicament was analyzed to cause difficulties in solving thorny issues that required the input of both the Republicans and Democrats.
Revise the Memo
Following Donald Trump’s decision, White House Counsel Don McGahn wrote a letter to the intelligence committee informing it that the memo was declined because classified and sensitive passages existed in the memo. He added that the panel with help of the Justice Department should revise the memo and revert to White House as the President is still inclined to release the memo in the interest of openness.
Don McGahn stated that Trump’s obligation for transparency is subject to whether the memo will be revised by the intelligence committee. In a statement issued on Friday by the White House Spokesman, Raj Shah said that the President was discussing the Democratic document with Christopher Wray the FBI Director, White House counsel’s office, and a top justice department official.
In the spirit of openness, the White House also sent lawmakers a letter undersigned by the Rod Rosenstein the Attorney General, and Christopher to reiterate on the President’s decision to decline to declassify the Democratic memo. The letter was also accompanied by a marked-up copy of the memo showing the sensitive passages that needed revision as the passages could compromise intelligence sources and methods.
Reactions from the Democrat Front
Adam Schiff, California Rep. and the top Democrat on the intelligence committee disapproved of how Trump treated the two memos. Trump went ahead to allow for the Republican memo to be released even though he was advised otherwise by the FBI and the Justice Department. On Friday he declined the Democrat’s memo after heeding to the FBI and Justice Department’s advice. Schiff stated that they look forward to conferring with the two agencies to determine how best they could inform Americans on the misleading attacks by the Republicans directed towards the two agencies.
Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader stated that Trump’s move is part of a dangerous and desperate move to conceal the truth. Dianne Feinstein, California Senator and top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, after reading the two memos concluded on Twitter that Trump’s decision is hypocrisy at its worst.
