President Donald J. Trump took to Twitter this morning to explain his reasoning behind his controversial decision to not release a Democratic memo late last night. The Democratic document is supposed challenge the GOP's memo that accused several federal agencies of skirting the law and abusing power against presidential candidate Trump. President Trump lamented that the "Democrats sent a very political and long response memo" which would have had to have been heavily redacted if released to the public.
Last week, House Intelligence Committee Republicans released a memo alleging serious accusations of bias against Donald Trump at the Department of Justice, FBI, and in the Obama administration that served as the impetus behind the Russian investigation. In response, Democrats drafted their own memo which was supposed to refute the claims made by the GOP. But, late last night, President Trump announced that he would not release the Democratic memo until changes were made, citing national security issues with the document.
As noted by Cortney, this move irked many Democrats who criticized the White House's lack of transparency. "
"Top Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are fuming.
“The president’s double standard when it comes to transparency is appalling,” he said in a statement. “The rationale for releasing the Nunes memo, transparency, vanishes when it could show information that’s harmful to him.”
Cortney also added that "The Democratic version is six pages longer and, according to its authors, contains important context their Republican colleagues omitted."
President Trump's tweet today indicates that he may release the Democratic memo, but only once the authors of the document make the suggested changes. Trump alleges that the Democrats "would have blamed the White House for lack of transparency" had he decided to release a redacted memo.
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