The White House announced that President Donald Trump is not ready to approve the release of the Democratic counter-memo drafter for the sole purpose of disproving the document Trump declassified last week which was composed by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes received a letter from White House counsel Don McGahn which explained that “although the president is inclined to declassify” the Democratic memo, the administration believes it would create “especially significant concerns” for “national security and law enforcement interests.”
Trump’s legal team claimed that the decision was made at the most professional level by senior officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice (DOJ). McGahn also sent an additional letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray where he highlighted the information the White House found to be problematic.
The White House also offered to work with the House Intelligence Committee to make a revision of the Democratic memo which later can be resubmitted for declassification.
“The president encourages the Committee to undertake these efforts,” the letter states. “The Executive Branch stands ready to review any subsequent draft of the February 5th memorandum for declassification at the earliest opportunity.”
According to The Hill, Democrats were expected to provide evidence backing up their claims in the memo the Intelligence Committee voted to make public but that the White House is refusing to declassify. The Hill also reported that many top Democrats reacted with fury over the White House’s decision to block the release of their memo.
“The President’s double standard when it comes to transparency is appalling. The rationale for releasing the Nunes memo, transparency, vanishes when it could show information that’s harmful to him. Millions of Americans are asking one simple question: what is he hiding?” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said.
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