President Trump on Saturday blamed House Democrats for forcing him to block their memo defending FBI conduct in the Russia probe, saying it was chock full of intelligence “sources and methods” that they knew would prevented declassification.
He said they wanted him to refuse release to create the appearance of a coverup. The Democrats’ 10-page memo was written to rebut of a House Republican intelligence memo that outlined FBI abuses and bias in obtaining surveillance warrants on a Trump campaign official.
“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!” Mr. Trump tweeted.
The White House announced Friday that the president was denying declassification on advise from the Justice Department, although they wanted to release it for the sake of transparency.
Mr. Trump sent the Democratic memo back to the House Intelligence Committee for revisions the would allow its release.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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