Committee Votes to Release Democratic Rebuttal to G.O.P. Russia Memo

[robertpaulsen]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — The House Intelligence Committee voted on Monday to make public a classified Democratic memorandum rebutting Republican claims that the F.B.I. and the Justice Department had abused their powers to wiretap a former Trump campaign official, setting up a possible clash with President Trump.

The vote gives Mr. Trump five days to review the Democratic memo and determine whether he will try to block its release. A decision to stop it could lead to an ugly standoff between the president, his top law enforcement and intelligence advisers and Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Trump vocally supported the release of the Republicans’ memo last week, declassifying its contents on Friday over the objections of Democrats and his own F.B.I., which issued a rare public statement to warn that it had “grave concerns” about the memo’s accuracy. On Saturday, he claimed, incorrectly, on Saturday that the memo “totally vindicates” him in the continuing investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

The 10-page Democratic document is certain to be less flattering to his case. Democrats have said the memo corrects mischaracterizations by the Republicans and adds crucial context to actions by the F.B.I. and the Justice Department in obtaining a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order to wiretap the former Trump aide, Carter Page, in October 2016.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/us/politics/democratic-memo-adam-schiff-trump.html

[Gothmog]

1. The real question is will trump block the release

[robertpaulsen]

2. If he does...

...couldn't that also be considered obstruction of justice?

[Gothmog]

4. Congressman Schiff is worried about redactions

Link to tweet

[Freethinker65]

7. Thanks for posting this

[rpannier]

13. Probably not since it would be blocked from public release

Just because the public cannot see it does not mean he is obstructing justice

[missingm]

5. Blocking is better than redactions

If Trump blocks the memo entirely, the House could use a full house vote to release it. Redactions would require more work.

[joshcryer]

21. The Democrats memo is going to have more meat behind it.

I suspect he blocks it or lets it quietly go over, as the redactions will be numerous.

Remember, the Republicans had to rewrite their memo that they wanted to be released, likely because of security concerns.

[democrank]

3. What will Comrade Trump do?

He may be in a bit of a bind here. He has no moral compass, not even a picture of one, so who knows?

[ThoughtCriminal]

6. Crisswell Predicts!

Actually, this is a simple exercise. It's easy to predict what Trump will do in a situation like this. If there are three choices, he will pick the one which is most evil and self-serving - and then find a fourth choice that is worse.

[TomSlick]

14. My bet is that Trump blocks release.

Then again predicting what Trump will do is always a crapshoot.

[flibbitygiblets]

16. Me too. also then it will look like Dems & Intelligence are in cahoots

Trumpers will spin it as nefarious, when actually they (Dems & Intelligence) are the only ones who care about this damn country. It will be just another distraction from the noose tightening around that lying sack of treasonous bile. He's not going to interview with Mueller either, so he needs another distraction.

[asiliveandbreathe]

8. Time is short for mid-terms..and rethugs know it!!!

I would hope the Dem rebuttal and correcting the record, does not have classified info..beyond what we already know about FISA warrants..but then, the dumpster could use that as an excuse - citing classified info...then we really may be seeing obstruction...

[BigmanPigman]

9. I just heard that when Mueller is done his investigation

that it isn't released to the public like with Ken Starr and Clinton. Apparently the rule to make it public and transparent ran out and hasn't been renewed. So after Mueller is finished he turns his findings over to Rosenstein (if he is still in his position) and he is the person who decides whether or not to release it to the public.

They said on the news that the "release the memo" BS will look like Kindergarten play compared to the Mueller conclusion and findings if the decision is made to NOT release it.

[moondust]

10. Politics.

GOP figured out that blocking this looks bad and could hurt them in the midterms. So they coordinated with the WH and will simply leave it up to TheRump to do whatever since he's not running this year.

[Corgigal]

11. Damn it, this shouldn't be a rebuttal anything.

This is our country's intelligence. So when we get a Democratic President are only blue state protected from an informed terrorist attack?

Seriously, does anyone think any more? Yeah, I know we all have headaches but we want the FBI, CIA and NSA ( plus a thousand more unknowns companies) to work for the full country. All places, all colors of human, all religions(or non), all genders and ages.

NYT's again, pick your wording correctly. I'm tired of your crap.

[Amaryllis]

12. I dont get why they can't just DO it. WHat would happen? Is it just that Dems follow the rules and

Rs don't?

[LiberalLovinLug]

15. Yes

You know that Republicans would release it anyways if the shoe were on the other foot.

But also, IF Trump refuses to release it unredacted, why couldn't some Democrat that has access to it, kinda leave it on his desk "accidentally", and then a willing intern kinda sees it, and kinda sends copies to the media?

Yes the orange one would turn red. along with Nunes, and other Trump loyalists. But surely the outcome would be good. News media would still be talking about it, and comparing it to the cherry picked version. The facts of their deception revealed would surely "trump" any fuss over the leaking of it. But are the Dems too shackled by their own impotent standards of fair play?

[Amaryllis]

17. That's what I was thinking. Sense of fair play. WHen they go low, we go high? How's that working

for them? It is a predicament.

[flibbitygiblets]

18. Well, yeah. The "rules", I believe, are technically classified information.

Now, just like Nunes' memo, the Dems' version has to be declassified by Trump to get released publicly, and if I heard correctly, that shitbag has 5 days to decide if he's going to do that.

[Amaryllis]

19. But what would happen if they just did it? Like the Rs did? Is anything gonna happen to them?

There seems to be no such thing as rule of law any more.

[Cha]

20. kick