Well, this was expected from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Her office released a statement saying that President Trump has “surrendered” his “constitutional responsibility as commander-in-chief” for releasing this memo. She seems to think that the president doesn’t have the authority to declassify or sign off on declassifying documents approved by Congress; he does. Yet, she’s doing what any Democratic leader has to do in this scenario: go totally nuts. She said the release of this memo was akin to Trump sending Russian President Vladimir Putin a bouquet. That’s cute. If anything, it was the Obama White House who did that unknowingly when their DOJ used a shoddy dossier compiled by former MI6 operative Christopher Steele who had sources within the Kremlin that very well could have given him misinformation to cause the Russia hysteria seen on the Left. As you know, the dossier was really opposition research for the Clinton campaign, which retained research firm Fusion GPS; GPS then contracted Steele to get working on this document. They used this uncorroborated piece of campaign literature to secure a FISA warrant on the presidential campaign of the opposing side.
“President Trump has surrendered his constitutional responsibility as Commander-in-Chief by releasing highly classified and distorted intelligence. By not protecting intelligence sources and methods, he just sent his friend Putin a bouquet.
“As the Department of Justice warned, the public release of the memo would be an ‘unprecedented action’ and ‘extraordinarily reckless.’ The FBI also expressed ‘grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.’
“Nunes’ partisan spin memo distorts highly classified intelligence in a cynical attempt to discredit our national intelligence and law enforcement agencies and the Special Counsel investigation. Releasing the memo is a desperate attempt to distract the American people from the truth about the Trump-Russia scandal.
“One year ago, the intelligence community concluded that the Russians interfered in our elections and plan to do so again. Yet, the President refuses to hold Putin accountable, making us all ask: what do the Russians have on Trump, politically, financially and personally?
“As the Speaker and former Vice Presidential candidate, Speaker Ryan knows how dangerous it is to jeopardize our intelligence and national security. Why is he enabling this recklessness and not taking action to remove Chairman Nunes?”
JUST IN: Top House, Senate Democrats write letter to Pres. Trump warning that use of the newly-released memo as a pretext to fire either Special Counsel Bob Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could spark a constitutional crisis. https://t.co/VWeWFdPBhR pic.twitter.com/bgYWH90f82
— ABC News (@ABC) February 2, 2018
Now, top House and Senate Democrats has warned Trump that firing Robert Mueller of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could spark a constitutional crisis:
Text of the Democrats’ letter to President Trump can be found below:
Dear President Trump:
The decision to release a partisan and misleading memo over the objections of your own Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director and the Department of Justice (DOJ) was a transparent attempt to discredit the hard-working men and women of law enforcement who are investigating Russia’s interference with our Presidential election and that nation’s ties to your campaign.
We are alarmed by reports that you may intend to use this misleading document as a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in an effort to corruptly influence or impede Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s investigation.
We write to inform you that we would consider such an unwarranted action as an attempt to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation. Firing Rod Rosenstein, DOJ Leadership, or Bob Mueller could result in a constitutional crisis of the kind not seen since the Saturday Night Massacre.
Sincerely,
Representative Nancy Pelosi
Senator Chuck Schumer
Representative Steny Hoyer
Senator Dick Durbin
Representative Joe Crowley
Senator Patty Murray
Representative Adam Schiff
Senator Mark Warner
Representative Jerrold Nadler
Senator Dianne Feinstein
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