Trump: Democrats Must ‘Redo’ Their ‘Very Political’ Memo
PLAYING FAVORITES?
The president suggests Democrats submitted the memo so they could “blame the White House for lack of transparency.”
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
President Trump on Saturday told Democratic lawmakers to “redo” their classified memo countering Republican claims of FBI wrongdoing, saying it was “very political and long.” He suggested the memo was a set-up to make the White House look bad, saying Democrats “knew” their memo revealed “sources and methods” that would have to be redacted. By submitting it in its current form, he said, they hoped to “blame the White House for lack of transparency.” “Told them to redo and send back in proper form,” he tweeted early Saturday. Democratic and Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously to release the Democrats’ memo earlier this week. Trump’s decision to block it was met with criticism Friday, with many questioning why the Democrats' memo should be treated any differently than the Republican one, which was released with Trump’s approval last week. In that document, Trump’s Republican allies alleged the FBI and Justice Department abused their power to obtain a surveillance warrant on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, a claim that threatens to undermine the ongoing Russia probe.
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!
