The New York Times told the Department of Justice on Monday that it is doing something unusual: Filing a motion asking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to unseal secret documents related to the wiretapping former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
The motion comes following the release of a declassified memo written by Republican staffers on the House Intelligence Committee that alleges no warrant from the FISC would have been sought without the information within the infamous Trump-Russia dossier.
President Trump declassified the memo last week, and the New York Times argues “there is no longer a justification ‘for the Page warrant orders and application materials to be withheld in their entirety,’ and ‘disclosure would serve the public interest.’”
But Democrats on the committee dispute the allegations in the Republican memo, and say is it inaccurate and has misleading omissions.
They are now working to get their rebuttal memo, which they say accurately portrays the documents used to make up the GOP memo, approved by the committee for public release.
The Times motion cites “the overwhelming public interest in assessing the accuracy of the [Chairman Devin] Nunes memorandum and knowing the actual basis for the Page surveillance orders” as its reason for the request. It adds that the FISC should allow the publication of its orders and the application materials “with only such limited redactions as may be essential to preserve information that remains properly classified notwithstanding the declassification and dissemination of the Nunes memorandum.”
The New York Times also filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Justice Department asking it to disclose the same materials after being reviewed for declassification.
