President Donald Trump is expected to tell the House Intelligence Committee that he does not object to the release of a classified memo about the Russia investigation, a senior White House official said Thursday.
A decision not to block the memo's release would fly in the face of warnings from law enforcement officials — the FBI has said it has "grave concerns" about the memo's disclosure — as well as Democrats, who contend the memo is designed to distort the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, the senior White House official said the White House has had time over the last couple of days to look over the memo "to make sure it doesn’t give away too much in terms of classification."
"Right now, I think it will be that we tell the Congress, probably tomorrow, that the president is okay with it," the official added, noting that the ultimate public disclosure of the memo is in the hands of Congress.
So all day journalists have been breathlessly awaiting the release of the memo, only to learn that if it is released it will not be until tomorrow.
If you have been watching any news (Or regularly visiting here.) you likely already know that this memo contains information cherry picked by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, and that it is being used to undermine Rod Rosenstein, attack the FBI, and derail the Robert Mueller investigation.
And there was quite a lot of activity concerning the release of this memo yesterday and today.
First there was this:
That is the FBI coming out publicly to say that releasing this memo is a bad idea for the country.FBI takes aim at the secret memo drafted by GOP staff of Rep. Nunes... FBI statement: pic.twitter.com/RrNLnvEThE— Mike Levine (@MLevineReports) January 31, 2018
Not typically something you would see the FBI do.
There were also reports that Trump's own FBI Director may quit if this memo is released in defiance of the FBI's wishes:
Top White House aides are worried FBI Director Christopher Wray could quit if the highly controversial Republican memo alleging the FBI abused its surveillance tools is released, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation tell CNN.
Wray has made clear he is frustrated that President Donald Trump picked him to lead the FBI after he fired FBI Director James Comey in May, yet his advice on the Nunes memo is being disregarded and cast as part of the purported partisan leadership of the FBI, according to a senior law enforcement official.
Wray's stance is "raising hell," one source familiar with the matter said.
There were also some reports that Wray was planning to debunk the memo point by point.
And then there was this today from Adam Schiff:
Nunes claimed that he only altered some inconsequential things like dates.BREAKING: Discovered late tonight that Chairman Nunes made material changes to the memo he sent to White House – changes not approved by the Committee. White House therefore reviewing a document the Committee has not approved for release. pic.twitter.com/llhQK9L7l6— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 1, 2018
Because you know, how often are getting the dates accurate really that important? Sheesh!
Then another odd thing happened.
Remember how after Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe quit and the official reason given was that it had something to do with his work on the Hillary Clinton email investigation?
Well here it is to remind you:
FBI Director Chris Wray made clear in a message sent to all bureau employees on Monday night that Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's decision to step aside was a result of forthcoming information to be detailed in an inspector general report, according to a copy of his message obtained by NBC News.
Wray alluded to having seen aspects of the IG's report into the way the FBI handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server.
Yeah, that's the one!
Well today Junior kind of fucked up that story line as well.
Talking about the secret memo:ATTORNEY: Hello?— Eric Schmeltzer (@JustSchmeltzer) February 1, 2018
DON, JR: Hey, it's me. I did it again.
ATTORNEY: JFC.... pic.twitter.com/PdSsBb1TLn
"It was good enough to fire McCabe, no one argues it's factually inaccurate, but now days later they want to protect the names of those involved in a scandal that was big enough to fire a senior official a month before retirement? They don't deserve a pass on that!"
So much for Eric being the dumb son.
If you ever wondered what it would be like if the Keystone Kops, who also were secret Russian operatives, ran the White House, well now you know.
Source http://ift.tt/2GC5xHs
