Trump gives AG Barr authority to declassify documents related to 2016 campaign surveillance
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Trump on Thursday night issued a memo giving Attorney General William Barr the authority to declassify any documents related to surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016.
"Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election," Press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
"The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information. Today’s action will help ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions."
Trump also ordered the intelligence community to cooperate with Barr. The memo read: "The heads of elements of the intelligence community... and the heads of each department or agency that includes an element of the intelligence community shall promptly provide such assistance and information as the Attorney General may request in connection with that review."
"Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
"The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information. Today’s action will help ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions."
In a Twitter message late Thursday, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani defended the president's action.
"The President @realDonaldTrump made a wise decision to let AG Barr on the documents," Giuliani wrote. "I don’t know for sure but I seriously doubt there’s any national security concern but some of it could affect pending investigations. I’m sure AG and DOJ will make a very appropriate decision."
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, blasted the move as an attempt to "weaponize law enforcement and classified information."
Trump claims his campaign was the victim of "spying," though the intelligence community has insisted it acted lawfully in following leads in the Russia investigation.
The president had told Fox News earlier in May that he would allow declassification "soon." He elaborated, "I didn’t want to do it originally because I wanted to wait, because I know what they -- you know I’ve seen the way they play. They play very dirty."
Last month, Barr ran into a buzz saw of criticism from Democratic lawmakers and media figures for testifying that “spying did occur” against the Trump campaign in 2016. But despite the backlash, Barr appeared to be referring to intelligence collection that already has been widely reported and confirmed.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page are currently the subject of a Justice Department inspector general investigation looking at potential misconduct in the issuance of those warrants. That review also reportedly is scrutinizing the role of an FBI informant who had contacts with Trump advisers in the early stages of the Russia investigation.
The use of the term "spying" as it applies to the FBI's surveillance in 2016 has been fiercely disputed. The New York Times, even as it reported last year on how the FBI sent an informant to speak to campaign advisers amid concerns about suspicious Russia contacts, stated that this was to "investigate" Russia ties and "not to spy."
“I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated,” Barr testified last month, adding that he believed it is his “obligation” to review whether there was misconduct in the original investigation. “Congress is usually very concerned with intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane.”
He added that “spying on a political campaign is a big deal.”
President Trump backed the attorney general's testimony, saying the same day Barr testified last month that he thinks what Barr said "was absolutely true," adding, "There was absolutely spying into my campaign.”
Democrats, though, charged that the testimony indicated Barr was a compromised witness.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told the Associated Press last month that she doesn’t “trust Barr,” but she trusts Special Counsel Robert Mueller . Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , D-N.Y., accused Barr of “peddling conspiracy theories.”
By Talia Kaplan , Mike Arroyo
Fox News' Catherine Herridge, John Roberts, Brooke Singman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Trump is now playing his cards
Which ones? The ones in his hands, or the ones up his sleeves?
The 4 Aces
Finally, Trump has his Roland Freisler.
Yeah, well Friesler had a ceiling fall on him. Not that he did not deserve it, but comparing comparing Barr to to a psychotic Nazi judge in WW II Germany? That's pretty low and speaks volumes about how little you know about history.
Well considering that Mark Meadows is out there saying the evidence of spying on Trump "will curl your hair", I think the Democrats are trying to get their illegal and Unconstitutional power-grab in now:
Sorry? Wasn't it already weaponized when it was used to illegally spy on an opposition campaign under the Obama administration?
He is also leaving out the weaponizing of the IRS during the Obama administration. That D behind the name really is all powerful in leftist land.
When one sits around and wants a "Politician" to make their life better by Promising to "GIVE" other folks stuff to them, all Self has gone away !
I'd like to know....How the Fuck an elected "person" comes out of that cesspool with more net worth than they went in with !
Insider Trading ?
The "State" is "Deeply" corrupt !
I believe Barr sees himself as "The Ref". He sees himself as the referee between the administration and "leftists". Now, already he's a home town boy who wants to see his old team win, but still thinks of himself as honest and wouldn't do something criminal to make that happen. However, because he believes the "left" committed a foul, he feels they unfairly targeted Trump and his campaign, that even though he sees his team commit some fouls, he thinks of it as "balancing the game" by refusing to call them and letting the game continue. I don't really believe Barr doesn't see the obstruction, of course he does. He's simply dismissing it in an effort to correct a wrong as he sees it. That's how he justifies refusing to uphold the law and still think himself a patriot. This effort to open an investigation on the investigators is his attempt to validate his unethical partisan behavior.
Barr sees himself as more than he is. He thinks the office of the president is beyond reproach.
He was a part of covering up and shielding two republican presidents from scrutiny during the Iran-Contra affairs, as well as being part of giving pardons to those involved.
He is a partisan shill that thinks no matter what this president does that it would not be illegal because of his position.
That is dangerous thinking. I have been saying all along that people on the right are not going to like all these doors they are opening, all these norms they are breaking.
I don't disagree, I just think he himself justifies it in his mind as corrective "balancing" instead of the violation of his oath of office it is. I think many other conservatives do it as well. We see it here constantly. As soon as you point out right wing lies and cheats you get a half dozen false equivalencies presented as a justification for their vile behavior. You can't get through a reasonable debate on some recent republican being accused of sexual misconduct without being shotgun blasted by a dozen conservative tired "But Bill Clinton!!" comments. You'd think the entire right wing debate playbook looks something like this: "Bill Clinton",, Hillary Clinton", "Monica Lewinsky", "Benghazi", "Hillary email server", "IRS scandal", "Fast & Furious", "Secret Muslim Obama", "Secret Gay Obama", "Born is Kenya Obama", "Obamacare", "Religious freedom", "BLM" and "Antifa". Without those spurious debate topics many conservatives would have nothing to talk about and no defense of their shameful actions and support for Republican liars and cheats.
True.
I just think it is ironic. They are basically screaming for vindication, retribution.
I have to laugh at the ones that claim draining the swamp, when the guy they are pinning their hopes on has a history of putting a wall around said swamp.
Just had to add, so true. Just look at this article itself. A lot of the comments are about the IRS under Obama. It seems most of their arguments are deflection.
"nothing is happening... LOL
Perhaps Mueller desires to speak behind closed doors with the transcript being released because he ( Mueller ) is a patriot, professional, decorated Vietnam veteran and would rather not have to deal publicly with idiotic antics from certain legislators such as Jim Jordan or Louie Gohmert to name a couple. After all, would anybody want to deal with that infantile crap who possessed any sense of decency, intellect and integrity?
This too. Every question and answer on the transcript would be void of the camera antics some of the legislators are so fond of providing.
Possibly the best post on NT this week.
Exactly. R & D's both have their 'drama queens.'
"Barr has been reviewing the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign for weeks now. Not only has he tasked Durham with reviewing the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, but he has also enlisted the help of CIA Director Gina Haspel, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Although Trump said his order empowering Barr could lead to the declassification of "millions of pages of documents," Coats tamped down expectations about the scope of what can be made available to the public.
"Much like we have with other investigations and reviews, the Intelligence Community will provide the Department of Justice all of the appropriate information for its review of intelligence activities related to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election," Coats said in a statement Friday. "As part of that process, I am confident that the Attorney General will work with the IC in accordance with the long-established standards to protect highly-classified information that, if publicly released, would put our national security at risk."
If the identity of the CIA's informant is revealed as part of Barr's newly obtained declassification authority, it would follow last year's leak that the FBI had an informant in Stefan Halper, an American professor at Cambridge University who met with associates of Trump's campaign.
This happened after top House Intelligence Republican Devin Nunes, R-Calif., subpoenaed the Justice Department for documents concerning an American who was a confidential intelligence source for special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The DOJ fought back, warning that providing the information would threaten the life of the source and jeopardize national security.
Halper is a focus of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's FISA abuse investigation. In April it was revealed a woman who said her name was Azra Turk and posed as an assistant to Halper when meeting with Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos was working undercover for the FBI."
“Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities"....