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US President Donald Trump
on Friday said documents from the federal Russia probe would not
immediately be released, just days after he ordered them to be
made public, citing concerns by the US Justice Department that
doing so could harm the investigation.
Trump, on Twitter, said the department’s inspector general
would review the documents “on an expedited basis” and would
“move quickly.”
“In the end I can always declassify if it proves necessary,”
Trump wrote, after earlier demanding the release of documents in
the ongoing investigation of alleged Russian interference in the
2016 presidential election.
Representatives for the department’s Office of the Inspector
General did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate
Intelligence Committee, welcomed Trump‘s remarks.
“Thankfully it seems that saner minds have prevailed, at
least for the time being. This underscores why the President
should be relying on the expertise and advice of intelligence
and law enforcement professionals, not cable news hosts,” Warner
told Reuters via email.
Trump had called for the documents‘ declassification on
Monday in his latest effort to cast doubt on the probe, which
has loomed over his presidency. The move prompted sharp
criticism from Democrats and others that Trump was abusing his
power and that he and his allies were politicizing the probe to
protect the White House just weeks before November’s
congressional elections.
Trump has denied colluding with Russia and Moscow has denied
meddling in the 2016 election, though major US intelligence
agencies agree that Russia interfered.
In his Tweet, Trump said he met with Justice Department
officials about the documents, and that Justice officials said
releasing the material “may have a perceived negative impact on
the Russia probe.”
“Also, key Allies’ called to ask not to release,” he wrote.
Among the documents Trump wants to release are parts of an
application to a special court for electronic surveillance of
former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page, and three
applications for renewal of the surveillance.
In July, the Justice Department and FBI made public heavily
redacted versions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
applications involving Page.
Cryptic clues in these reports indicate that a key FBI
informant, identified as Source#1, is in fact Christopher
Steele, a former British intelligence officer who compiled a
controversial “Dossier” charting alleged Trump links to Russia.
People familiar with Steele’s career and the British
government’s views said Britain was indeed concerned that its
official secrets could be revealed if too much of the
surveillance application material were declassified and
released.
On Twitter, Trump wrote that he believed Justice Inspector
Michael Horowitz “will move quickly on this (and hopefully other
things which he is looking at).”
While it was unclear what Trump was referring to, a source
with knowledge of the matter said Horowitz’s office also is
conducting a review of the FBI’s counter-intelligence
investigation on Trump campaign associates’ ties to Russia,
which began in July 2016.
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