By John Bowden, January 27, 2018

President Trump broke with top officials at the Justice Department and called for the release of a classified memo purported to list Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses by the U.S. government, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

Despite warnings from top officials at the agency, Trump reportedly told Attorney General Jeff Sessions through chief of staff John Kelly that he wants to see the memo released, believing that it will shed light on the special counsel investigation.

Trump "is inclined to have that released just because it will shed light," a senior administration official told the Post.

"Apparently all the rumors are that it will shed light, it will help the investigators come to a conclusion," the official added.

The decision to release the memo rests with the House Intelligence Committee, chaired by California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes. Earlier this week, the Justice Department warned the committee it would be "extraordinarily reckless" to release the memo without first supplying it to the agency for review.

"Indeed, we do not understand why the committee would possibly seek to disclose this information without first consulting the relevant members of the Intelligence Community," Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote to the lawmakers on Thursday.

Republicans in Congress who have seen the memo say that the contents are "shocking," and voted this week to allow House members to view the memo in secure locations. The Senate Intelligence Committee, however, has been reportedly blocked from viewing it.

"I'm here to tell all of America tonight that I'm shocked to read exactly what has taken place," House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said in a speech on the House floor.

"I thought it could never happen in a country that loves freedom and democracy like this country. It is time that we become transparent with all of this, and I'm calling on our leadership to make this available so all Americans can judge for themselves," he said.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrati...memo-report?amp

I heard Trump wants the memo released on Monday, so it will be out before his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

The latest on the #Releasethememo story...

Byron York: House Intel meets Monday and could vote on memo release — is Jeff Sessions softening his stance?

by Byron York | Jan 28, 2018

The House Intelligence Committee meets at 5 p.m. Monday in the Capitol. The meeting will give the committee its first opportunity to vote on the question of releasing the so-called "FISA abuse" memo that has captured Washington's attention in recent days. Since the GOP holds a 13 to 9 advantage on the committee, the overwhelming likelihood is that if there is a vote, the panel will decide, along party lines, to release the memo.

At that point, House rules call for the committee to await a decision by the president on whether he supports or opposes release of the memo. President Trump has made clear he supports release, so the memo could be made public quickly.

The public might also learn committee Democrats' plans for a counter-memo. Ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff has accused Republicans of cherry-picking and distorting the intelligence underlying the GOP memo, and last Wednesday announced that Democrats would "draft our own memorandum, setting out the relevant facts and exposing the misleading character of the Republicans' document."

Schiff said that at Monday's meeting he will move for a committee vote to make the Democratic memorandum available to all members of the House — a mirror image of the committee's Jan. 18 vote to make the Republican memo available to the House.

It is unclear what the Republican majority's reaction will be if Democrats produce a memo and demand a vote. Obviously, Democrats will not win if the two parties disagree, but it's not clear what each side's tactics will be.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department continues to oppose publication of the Republican memo. In a Jan. 24 letter to Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said it would be "extraordinarily reckless" for the panel to release the memo without giving the Justice Department and the FBI a chance to read it and object.

The Boyd letter is just the latest point of contention between Congress and the Justice Department and FBI over the Trump-Russia affair. Republican oversight committees have complained about Justice-FBI "stonewalling" (House Speaker Paul Ryan's word) of congressional requests for information, especially concerning the Trump dossier.

Now, though, it appears that Attorney General Jeff Sessions — who remains recused from the Trump-Russia affair — is trying to send conciliatory signals to Congress on the oversight issue. In a speech in Norfolk, Va. on Friday, Sessions suggested the Justice Department has been too "defensive" in handling criticism.

snip

Upon hearing Sessions' speech, a number of Republicans had a reaction along the lines of: That's nice — now, how about doing something about it? It's not clear if Sessions' words will have any effect on the current impasse. After all, having recused himself from the Trump-Russia affair, the attorney general is not making the decisions.

Now, the battle goes on. The next 72 hours could be critical in the case of the memo: a possible vote to release it, a presidential go-ahead, and, most importantly, public evaluation and analysis of its contents. Does it live up to some Republicans' characterizations of it? Are Democratic criticisms accurate? Does its release, in fact, damage national security? It could be a very eventful week.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/byron-...article/2647342