This was absolutely predictable. Despite official statements, he clearly doesn’t want to have it mess up his (and Fox News’) official narrative of events:
President Trump is not ready to approve the release of a Democratic memo meant to rebut a controversial document released by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee last week, the White House announced.
White House counsel Don McGahn announced the decision in a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) on Friday.
“Although the President is inclined to declassify the February 5th Memorandum, because the Memorandum contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages, he is unable to do so at this time,” McGahn wrote.
The original memo drafted by staff for Nunes was released last week after weeks of public battle between committee Republicans and Democrats.
The memo accused FBI and Justice Department officials of abusing a surveillance program to unfairly target the Trump campaign.
Democrats on the committee, led by Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), prepared another memo to provide a rebuttal to the GOP memo. The committee voted Monday to make the memo public, pending Trump’s approval.
When people suggest “Trump would never” it means he will. Some analysts were suggesting he’d never just bar releasing the memo. Wrong again.
Breaking News: President Trump blocked release of a Democratic memo rebutting G.O.P. claims that law enforcement abused its power to spy on a former Trump aide https://t.co/mIrFny7UqY
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 10, 2018
Trump’s refusal to release Democratic response to #NunesMemo makes a mockery of national security and common sense. https://t.co/6Gjx25tS8R
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) February 10, 2018
BREAKING: President Trump won't release the Democratic rebuttal to the Republican intelligence memo alleging FBI abuses of its surveillance. He had no problem releasing the GOP memo to defend himself. https://t.co/04VPOlHgX5
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) February 10, 2018
This is unacceptable. Mr Trump immediately released the GOP memo, but won’t release the more detailed Democratic memo even with unanimous support in committee. @POTUS playing partisan games. https://t.co/HLlobfa1Iw
— Jason Westin, MD (@DrWestinForTX07) February 10, 2018
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.