President Trump responded to Democratic charges that his refusal to declassify the memo written by the Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee — led by ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) — is a completely partisan, butt-covering move after he let the Republican memo from the same committee — spearheaded by Rep. Devin Nunes — sail though without redactions. Of course, he did it through a tweet.
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. Told them to re-do and send back in proper form!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 10, 2018
The Democratic memo which Trump describes as “long,” presumably meaning that he didn’t actually read it, responds to and corrects the inaccuracies, out of context information, and misleading conclusions of the Republican memo which Trump claims “vindicates” him in the Russia investigation.
Even his ardent supporters in the Republican party find that claim to be erroneous at best, with House Intelligence Committee member Trey Gowdy tweeting that the Nunes memo has nothing to do with Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation.
As I have said repeatedly, I also remain 100 percent confident in Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The contents of this memo do not – in any way – discredit his investigation.
— Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) February 2, 2018
The fact is that Trump never intended to let the Democrats show that the Nunes memo is a fraud, although its public reception indicates that the majority of the populace has already discredited it.
Despite Trump’s calls for more redactions from the Democratic response memo, Rep. Schiff pointed out in a statement on Friday night that the FBI and Justice Department had already vetted their memo, which was based on the same documents that the Republican memo cited, prior to the Intelligence Committee unanimously voting for its disclosure.
“We will be reviewing the recommended redactions from D.O.J. and F.B.I., which these agencies shared with the White House,” Rep. Schiff said, “and look forward to conferring with the agencies to determine how we can properly inform the American people about the misleading attack on law enforcement by the G.O.P. and address any concerns over sources and methods.”
Stay tuned for more updates on the situation as the Intelligence Committee can vote to override the President’s decision by referring the matter to the full House for a vote. It will be interesting to see if Republicans will be brave enough to stand up