Consider this possible action as effort to weaken Robert Mueller & Company’s investigations and a possible National Security Breach….
This appears political and a legal move by Trump and House Republicans trying to shield Trump from Mueller’s probing….The info is release is pointed at those who have disagreed with Trump….
The FBI, Justice Department and Intelligence Community, which Trump has been attacking since the campaign, have warned that doing this would harm ‘sources and methods’ of how some the information was obtained ….
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, one of the Republicans leading the calls for declassification, tweeted his support for Trump’s decision, saying, “Transparency wins.”
“It’s time to get the full truth on the table so the American people can decide for themselves on what happened at the highest levels of their FBI and Justice Department,” the North Carolina Republican wrote.
But leading Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees panned Trump’s decision to declassify “selective” pieces of information that, without broader context, could undermine public faith in the ongoing special counsel investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia and whether the president has obstructed that investigation.
“President Trump, in a clear abuse of power, has decided to intervene in a pending law enforcement investigation by ordering the selective release of materials he believes are helpful to his defense team and thinks will advance a false narrative,” Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement Monday.
Schiff said that FBI and DOJ officials have previously told him they would consider declassification of such materials “a red line that must not be crossed” because they might compromise “sources and methods.”
“This is evidently of no consequence to a President who cares about nothing about the country and everything about his narrow self-interest,” Schiff said…..