President Trump on Thursday night issued a memo giving Attorney General William Barr the authority to declassify any documents related to surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016.
Trump also ordered the intelligence community to cooperate with Barr. The memo read: “The heads of elements of the intelligence community… and the heads of each department or agency that includes an element of the intelligence community shall promptly provide such assistance and information as the Attorney General may request in connection with that review.”
“Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
“The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information. Today’s action will help ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions.”
In a Twitter message late Thursday, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani defended the president’s action.
EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s FAA touts new AI-powered tool helping thousands of passengers avoid flight delays
Congress returns to brutal lame-duck stretch with shutdown deadline, leadership races: ‘Closet is full of s—’
Gaza protests continue same revolutionary ‘omni-cause’ given life by Black Lives Matter
Bernie Sanders warns Democrats not to spend all their time investigating Trump
Two Washington deputies killed trying to rescue possible hostages after woman shot
Dallas public defender’s chief investigator charged with wife’s murder after bloody apartment discovery
Tensions flare as demonstrators target Jewish restaurants, drawing massive counterprotest
Joe Biden says cancer slowed him down, limiting memoir promotion tour
Trump says he was ‘only kidding’ about making Dana White press secretary
Elon Musk’s Austin home targeted by well-funded leftist groups aboard party buses
Video shows small plane clip pickup truck during emergency landing on busy Florida road
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Richard Walters exits job ahead of Stephen Miller takeover
Gun Rights Under Threat in Unlikely Places as Midterm Wipeout Hands Gun-Control Advocates Major Foothold
Collision between two trains in Egypt kills seven and injures more than 100
After GOP’s brutal midterms, ‘Chuck Norris of Florida politics’ tells party to ‘get up and fight’
“The President @realDonaldTrump made a wise decision to let AG Barr on the documents,” Giuliani wrote. “I don’t know for sure but I seriously doubt there’s any national security concern but some of it could affect pending investigations. I’m sure AG and DOJ will make a very appropriate decision.”
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, blasted the move as an attempt to “weaponize law enforcement and classified information.”
Trump claims his campaign was the victim of “spying,” though the intelligence community has insisted it acted lawfully in following leads in the Russia investigation.
The president had told Fox News earlier in May that he would allow declassification “soon.” He elaborated, “I didn’t want to do it originally because I wanted to wait, because I know what they — you know I’ve seen the way they play. They play very dirty.”
EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s FAA touts new AI-powered tool helping thousands of passengers avoid flight delays
Congress returns to brutal lame-duck stretch with shutdown deadline, leadership races: ‘Closet is full of s—’
Gaza protests continue same revolutionary ‘omni-cause’ given life by Black Lives Matter
Bernie Sanders warns Democrats not to spend all their time investigating Trump
Two Washington deputies killed trying to rescue possible hostages after woman shot
Dallas public defender’s chief investigator charged with wife’s murder after bloody apartment discovery
Tensions flare as demonstrators target Jewish restaurants, drawing massive counterprotest
Joe Biden says cancer slowed him down, limiting memoir promotion tour
Trump says he was ‘only kidding’ about making Dana White press secretary
Elon Musk’s Austin home targeted by well-funded leftist groups aboard party buses
Video shows small plane clip pickup truck during emergency landing on busy Florida road
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Richard Walters exits job ahead of Stephen Miller takeover
Gun Rights Under Threat in Unlikely Places as Midterm Wipeout Hands Gun-Control Advocates Major Foothold
Collision between two trains in Egypt kills seven and injures more than 100
After GOP’s brutal midterms, ‘Chuck Norris of Florida politics’ tells party to ‘get up and fight’
Last month, Barr ran into a buzz saw of criticism from Democratic lawmakers and media figures for testifying that “spying did occur” against the Trump campaign in 2016. But despite the backlash, Barr appeared to be referring to intelligence collection that already has been widely reported and confirmed.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page are currently the subject of a Justice Department inspector general investigation looking at potential misconduct in the issuance of those warrants. That review also reportedly is scrutinizing the role of an FBI informant who had contacts with Trump advisers in the early stages of the Russia investigation.
The use of the term “spying” as it applies to the FBI’s surveillance in 2016 has been fiercely disputed. The New York Times, even as it reported last year on how the FBI sent an informant to speak to campaign advisers amid concerns about suspicious Russia contacts, stated that this was to “investigate” Russia ties and “not to spy.”
“I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated,” Barr testified last month, adding that he believed it is his “obligation” to review whether there was misconduct in the original investigation. “Congress is usually very concerned with intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane.”
EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s FAA touts new AI-powered tool helping thousands of passengers avoid flight delays
Congress returns to brutal lame-duck stretch with shutdown deadline, leadership races: ‘Closet is full of s—’
Gaza protests continue same revolutionary ‘omni-cause’ given life by Black Lives Matter
Bernie Sanders warns Democrats not to spend all their time investigating Trump
Two Washington deputies killed trying to rescue possible hostages after woman shot
Dallas public defender’s chief investigator charged with wife’s murder after bloody apartment discovery
Tensions flare as demonstrators target Jewish restaurants, drawing massive counterprotest
Joe Biden says cancer slowed him down, limiting memoir promotion tour
Trump says he was ‘only kidding’ about making Dana White press secretary
Elon Musk’s Austin home targeted by well-funded leftist groups aboard party buses
Video shows small plane clip pickup truck during emergency landing on busy Florida road
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Richard Walters exits job ahead of Stephen Miller takeover
Gun Rights Under Threat in Unlikely Places as Midterm Wipeout Hands Gun-Control Advocates Major Foothold
Collision between two trains in Egypt kills seven and injures more than 100
After GOP’s brutal midterms, ‘Chuck Norris of Florida politics’ tells party to ‘get up and fight’
He added that “spying on a political campaign is a big deal.”
President Trump backed the attorney general’s testimony, saying the same day Barr testified last month that he thinks what Barr said “was absolutely true,” adding, “There was absolutely spying into my campaign.”
Democrats, though, charged that the testimony indicated Barr was a compromised witness.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told the Associated Press last month that she doesn’t “trust Barr,” but she trusts Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accused Barr of “peddling conspiracy theories.”
Story cited here.
