New Trump Decision: Whether to Release Democrats' Memo

House intelligence panel votes to release it, but final decision is up to the president
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 5, 2018 5:56 PM CST
New Trump Decision: Whether to Release Democrats' Memo
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, arrives for the a closed-door meeting of the committee on Capitol Hill, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018 in Washington.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Trump has one more big decision to make in regard to "the memo." The House intelligence panel on Monday voted unanimously to make public the Democratic rebuttal to the GOP's memo on the Russia investigation. As with the original memo, the president now has five days to review it and decide whether to allow its release, reports the AP. Will he do so? A tweet Trump sent earlier on Monday about the lead Democrat on the panel, Adam Schiff, raises doubts about the prospect, notes the Washington Post. Trump accused Schiff of leaving committee hearings to "illegally leak confidential information" and said he "must be stopped."

Schiff has previously asserted that the Republican memo is misleading and intended mainly to discredit the Robert Mueller investigation. He and his staffers compiled the 10-page rebuttal memo in question, and Schiff has said it presents a point-by-point refutation of the Republican version, reports Politico. The GOP memo made the case that the FBI and the Justice Department were politically biased against candidate Trump and improperly obtained permission to spy on his campaign.

(More House Intelligence Committee stories.)

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