President Donald Trump on Friday declined to release a House Democratic rebuttal of a Republican memo alleging bias and misconduct by the FBI and Justice Department early in their investigation of Russian election interference.
Trump is unable to do so because it contains “numerous properly classified and sensitive passages,” White House counsel Donald McGahn wrote in a letter to the House Intelligence chairman, Republican Representative Devin Nunes of California. McGahn said the Justice Department concluded that portions of the memo were highly sensitive.
The president would consider releasing the document if changes were made “to mitigate the risks” determined by the Department of National Intelligence and Justice Department of releasing those sensitive parts,” McGahn wrote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, blasted Trump’s decision.
“The president’s double standard when it comes to transparency is appalling,” he said in a statement late Friday. “The rationale for releasing the Nunes memo, transparency, vanishes when it could show information that’s harmful to him.”
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