President Trump called in to Sean Hannity's Fox News program Wednesday night for a 45-minute chat that allowed 45 to sound off on the now-concluded Robert Mueller Russia probe. One of Trump's biggest announcements during the discussion was that he's going to release the FISA applications that were used to spy on his presidential campaign.
"I have plans to declassify and release," Trump said. "I have plans to absolutely release."
He'll do so "at the right time."
Last week, Mueller concluded his Russia investigation and handed the results to Attorney General William Barr. In a four-page summary for Congress, Barr noted that Mueller found Trump had not conspired with Russia during the 2016 election, despite us hearing that media narrative for months. Lawmakers want the full report to be released publicly, but it could take weeks.
During the interview Trump condemned FBI officials as "treasonous" because they had relied on an uncorroborated dossier to obtain the FISA warrants to surveil his former aide Carter Page. In particular, Trump railed against former FBI Director James Comey as a "terrible guy" and former CIA Director John Brennan as a "sick person." Trump fired Comey in May 2017 and last year he revoked Brennan's security clearance.
Why has Trump waited so long to release the FISA applications? He told Hannity that his lawyers and several top Republicans advised him that if he released the FISA documents too early it would be viewed "as a form of obstruction."
The president also pledged to "get to the bottom" of how this whole Russian collusion media mess began.