Trump Blocks Release of Memo Rebutting Republican Claims
But Donald F. McGahn II, the president’s lawyer, said in a letter to the committee on Friday night
that the Democratic memo could not be released because it “contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages.” He said the president would again consider making the memo public if the committee, which had approved its release on Monday, revised it to “mitigate the risks.”
Under the obscure rule invoked by the Intelligence Committee to initiate the document’s release, the committee could choose
to make those changes, or could decide to seek a vote of the full House to try to override Mr. Trump’s decision.
and address any concerns over sources and methods.”
Representative Devin Nunes of California, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee and the biggest champion of the Republican memo, said in a statement
that he “had warned that the Democratic memo” revealed intelligence sources and methods, and that “it’s no surprise that these agencies recommended against publishing the memo without redactions.”
“Intelligence Committee Republicans encourage the minority to accept the D. O.J.’s recommendations and make the appropriate technical changes and redactions so
that no sources and methods are disclosed and their memo can be declassified as soon as possible,” he said.
Mr. McGahn said Mr. Trump was “inclined to declassify” the Democratic memo, and encouraged the committee to make the changes
that he said the Justice Department had identified as important for “national security and law enforcement interests.”
“The executive branch stands ready to review any subsequent draft of the Feb. 5 memorandum
for declassification at the earliest opportunity,” Mr. McGahn wrote to the committee.
