President Donald J. Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to address the controversial House Intelligence Committee memo that was released yesterday. The president claimed that the contents of that memo "totally vindicates 'Trump' in (the Mueller probe)." The 45th commander-in-chief, who has been dogged his entire administration by accusations of improperly being elected to the office of the presidency, called the entire "Russian Witch Hunt" an "American Disgrace."
This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018
This tweet echoes similar comments President Trump told the press yesterday. As noted by Cortney, he said that there are a lot of people who "should be ashamed of themselves" after reading the memo and being briefed by staff. In a statement from White Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, the White House said the document "raises serious concerns about the integrity" at some our nation's most esteemed institutions such as the FBI and the Department of Justice.
Townhall has provided ample coverage of the memo and breaking details, but as Guy noted yesterday, there are several problems - on both sides of the aisle - with the conclusions many are jumping to after its release:
"We need more information in order to determine the credibility of some of the accusations and implied accusations flying around. Predictably, some political actors are reacting to the GOP memo as if it's a national security risk or even a crime unto itself, which is nonsense. Others are dubiously citing it as vindication for President Trump, or a strong basis on which to start cleaning house by firing people like Rod Rosenstein and Bob Mueller. It's nothing of the sort. In fact, contrary to some of the pre-release hype, Rosenstein was barely mentioned in the memo at all; his name came up virtually exclusively in the context of approving the extended surveillance against Page, which very well could have been an entirely defensible decision by the time he made it (even if one is skeptical of the initial warrant). I'll leave you with a statement from House Intelligence Committee Republican Trey Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor who has seen reams of relevant evidence that we have not -- and who pushed for the release of this memo, albeit while successfully advocating for a more careful and methodical process than others would reportedly have preferred. This assessment ought to hold weight:
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