The top four congressional Democrats want federal law enforcement and intelligence officials to brief the eight lawmakers who can access classified intelligence before documents related to the Russia investigation are declassified.
Democratic Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, both of California, and Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Mark Warner of Virginia say they are concerned that President Trump, who has ordered the documents declassified, has “intervened” in an ongoing investigation that could implicate himself or those close to him.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, the four say the action to declassify the information is a “brazen abuse of power” and that doing so “will violate longstanding Department of Justice policies, as well as assurances you have provided us.”
Because of those assurances, the lawmakers ask for an “immediate” briefing to the Gang of Eight before any information is given to the White House ahead of public release.
In this situation, the Gang of Eight includes the leaders of each of the two parties from both the Senate and House, and the chairs and ranking minority members of both the Senate and House Intelligence Committees.
In that briefing, the Democrats want to know the exact review process for the classified documents and what White House officials would be involved.
[Opinion: How declassifying documents might backfire on Trump]
They also want to know what the intelligence community intends to redact in order to “protect investigative equities and sources and methods, including efforts to mitigate harm that may result from these disclosures.”
“Your agencies’ review, and any communications with the White House on the substance of the material, should not proceed further until you have briefed the Gang of Eight in person,” wrote Pelosi, Schiff, Schumer, and Warner.
Trump on Monday ordered the Justice Department, FBI, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence initiate the “immediate declassification” of select portions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act application on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, as well as “all FBI reports” prepared in connection with the wiretap warrant request.
The demand to release the documents comes even as there is an active investigation into Russian election interference and what links the Russian government could have with Trump’s campaign. Democrats accuse Trump and Republicans of consistently attempting to discredit the investigation, led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
A Justice Department spokesperson said the agency was already working with the ODNI to comply with the declassification order.
“When the President issues such an order, it triggers a declassification review process that is conducted by various agencies within the intelligence community, in conjunction with the White House Counsel, to seek to ensure the safety of America’s national security interests,” the spokesperson said in a statement late Monday.
Tuesday, in the Oval Office, Trump said he ordered the declassification because he wants “total transparency.”
“This is a witch hunt,” he said, using his moniker for the Russia investigation. “It’s a terrible witch hunt and it’s hurt our country and the things that have been found over the last couple of weeks about text messages back and forth are a disgrace to our nation. And I want transparency and so does everybody else.”
