WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Friday blocked the release of a classified memo written by congressional Democrats to rebut a Republican document that he allowed to be made public last week that claimed FBI and Justice Department bias against him in the federal probe of Russia and the 2016 US election.
The White House said the Justice Department had identified portions of the memo that “would create especially significant concerns for the national security and law enforcement interests” of the country.
A week earlier, Trump had overruled objections from the Federal Bureau of Investigation about releasing the Republican memo that took aim at senior law enforcement officials.
The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday to release the 10-page document drafted by the panel’s Democrats, contingent on the Republican president agreeing to reclassify it.
Trump on Feb. 2 allowed the release of the earlier memo written by the committee’s Republicans, escalating a campaign criticizing current and former senior law enforcement officials. Democrats said the Republican memo mischaracterized highly sensitive classified information and was intended to discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of potential collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
Mueller is also investigating whether Trump has committed obstruction of justice in trying to impede the Russia probe.
Trump met on Friday afternoon with officials from the Justice Department, White House Counsel’s Office and the FBI director, Christopher Wray, to get their input on the Democratic memo, the White House said.
“Although the President is inclined to declassify the Feb. 5 Memorandum, because the memorandum contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages, he is unable to do so at this time,” White House Counsel Don McGahn said in a letter to Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House panel.
The White House also released a letter sent to McGahn by Wray and to Rod Rosenstein, the No. 2 Justice Department official, expressing concerns about the memo’s release “in light of longstanding principles regarding the protection of intelligence sources and methods, ongoing investigations, and other similar sensitive information.”
The Republican memo portrayed the Russia investigation as a product of political bias at the FBI and Justice Department against Trump. The president said the document “totally vindicates” him in the Russia investigation, a claim disputed by Democrats and some Republicans.
Democrats last week warned Trump against using the Republican memo as a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who hired Mueller and oversees the investigation, or to remove Mueller himself. The Republican memo singled out Rosenstein and several other officials by name, including former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, who Trump fired in May 2017, as the agency investigated the Russia matter.
Mueller took over the investigation from the FBI.
US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign using hacking and propaganda, an effort that eventually included attempting to tilt the race in Trump’s favor. Russia denies interfering in the election. Trump denies collusion with Moscow.
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Trump blocks release of Democratic memo on Russia probe
Trump blocks release of Democratic memo on Russia probe
Portugal heads for presidential vote, fretting over storms and far-right
LISBON: Portugal ended campaigning on Friday for a presidential election this weekend amidst a battering by storms and fretting about the political whirlwind created by outspoken far-right leader Andre Ventura.
Ventura is almost certain to be beaten by Socialist candidate Antonio José Seguro in Sunday’s election but the far-right score will be watched almost as much as the latest of a series of fierce gales that have swept in off the Atlantic since the start of the year.
Voting has been delayed by a week in some municipalities because of the storms, which have killed at least five people, triggered flooding and caused widespread damage.
A new storm is forecast for Saturday.
But Ventura’s call to postpone the whole vote was rejected.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said the storms had caused a “devastating crisis” but that the threats to voting could be overcome. The electoral law only allows for a postponement in individual localities.
- Government attacks -
Seguro and Ventura have drastically rewritten their election scripts and appearances to focus on the towns and villages worst hit by floods, where the storm has torn down buildings and pylons.
Ventura, whose Chega (Enough) party was only created in 2019 but is now the biggest single opposition party in parliament, has attacked the response to the storm given by Montenegro’s center-right minority government.
Seguro has cast off his stance as a unifying candidate and also criticized the government.
The 63-year-old former Socialist party leader said he was “shocked” by the state’s efforts to get the country back on its feet.
Seguro has the advantage in the divisions caused by the rise of Chega in recent years.
An opinion poll published by the Publico daily on Wednesday gave Seguro 67 percent of voter support and Ventura 33 percent.
Seguro led the first round of the presidential election in January with 31 percent of votes and he is now backed by a host of political figures from the far left to the mainstream right.
Montenegro, whose government relies on the goodwill of the Socialists and Chega to survive, has not publicly backed any candidate, however.
His own party’s candidate obtained only 11 percent in the first round and dropped out.
Ventura, 43, took 23 percent of the vote in the first round.
The Portuguese establishment and analysts will be closely watching Ventura’s final score on Sunday to see whether his support is “stagnating” or whether he is “conquerering a new public,” said Joao Cancela, political science professor at Lisbon’s Nova University.
But the weather could have the final word in the debate as the storms and Seguro’s predicted win may lower voter turnout.
Ventura is almost certain to be beaten by Socialist candidate Antonio José Seguro in Sunday’s election but the far-right score will be watched almost as much as the latest of a series of fierce gales that have swept in off the Atlantic since the start of the year.
Voting has been delayed by a week in some municipalities because of the storms, which have killed at least five people, triggered flooding and caused widespread damage.
A new storm is forecast for Saturday.
But Ventura’s call to postpone the whole vote was rejected.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said the storms had caused a “devastating crisis” but that the threats to voting could be overcome. The electoral law only allows for a postponement in individual localities.
- Government attacks -
Seguro and Ventura have drastically rewritten their election scripts and appearances to focus on the towns and villages worst hit by floods, where the storm has torn down buildings and pylons.
Ventura, whose Chega (Enough) party was only created in 2019 but is now the biggest single opposition party in parliament, has attacked the response to the storm given by Montenegro’s center-right minority government.
Seguro has cast off his stance as a unifying candidate and also criticized the government.
The 63-year-old former Socialist party leader said he was “shocked” by the state’s efforts to get the country back on its feet.
Seguro has the advantage in the divisions caused by the rise of Chega in recent years.
An opinion poll published by the Publico daily on Wednesday gave Seguro 67 percent of voter support and Ventura 33 percent.
Seguro led the first round of the presidential election in January with 31 percent of votes and he is now backed by a host of political figures from the far left to the mainstream right.
Montenegro, whose government relies on the goodwill of the Socialists and Chega to survive, has not publicly backed any candidate, however.
His own party’s candidate obtained only 11 percent in the first round and dropped out.
Ventura, 43, took 23 percent of the vote in the first round.
The Portuguese establishment and analysts will be closely watching Ventura’s final score on Sunday to see whether his support is “stagnating” or whether he is “conquerering a new public,” said Joao Cancela, political science professor at Lisbon’s Nova University.
But the weather could have the final word in the debate as the storms and Seguro’s predicted win may lower voter turnout.
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