President Donald Trump moved on Thursday to allow the release of the controversial Nunes memo about the FBI, hoping that it will undermine the Russia investigation.
The president and his aides indicated that they wouldn’t use executive power to block Congress from making the memo public, angering the FBI and intelligence officials who say the memo distorts facts and could jeopardize intelligence-gathering information.
According to the CNN, Trump read and reviewed the memo on Wednesday, after which he discussed it with chief of staff John Kelly and the White House counsel’s office. Sources say President Trump believes the memo would expose bias within the FBI’s top ranks, making it easier for him to argue that the Russia investigations are prejudiced against him.
However, even though a number of Republicans support Trump in his pursuit to release the disputed memo, they do not necessarily agree with his motivations.
“If Americans’ civil liberties were abused, then that needs to come to light so that doesn’t happen again. This memo is not an indictment of the FBI, of the Department of Justice, it does not impugn the Mueller investigation or the deputy attorney general,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said.
The likely release of the memo has also worried some top White House aides who fear that FBI Director Christopher Wray may resign as a result. A senior law enforcement official said that Wray was frustrated with Trump because he disregards his advice on the Nunes memo, despite picking him to lead the FBI.
Wray’s stance is “raising hell,” one source familiar with the matter said, adding that Wray, however, has not directly threatened to quit.
Senior officials are making efforts to find a solution which would satisfy both Trump and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has also been angered by the president’s insistence to release the memo and who oversees Mueller and the Russia investigation.
Some administration officials say a possible solution would be to have redaction made to the document, but FBI officials are concerned that might lead to inaccuracies.
Should Wray depart the FBI, another problem would arise – choosing a “Trump guy” to succeed him.
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