Schumer, Pelosi rip Trump’s decision to block Dem memo

Democratic congressional leaders are blasting President Trump’s decision to block the release of a Democratic memo aimed at rebutting a GOP document alleging surveillance abuses against the Trump campaign.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) both accused Trump of applying a double standard by approving the release of the GOP memo but not the Democratic one.

“The President’s double standard when it comes to transparency is appalling,” Schumer said in a statement.

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“The rationale for releasing the Nunes memo, transparency, vanishes when it could show information that’s harmful to him. Millions of Americans are asking one simple question: what is he hiding?”

Pelosi said Trump’s move showed that his decision to release the document authored by staff for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) last week was “blatantly political.”

“The hypocrisy is on full display. What does the President have to hide?” Pelosi tweeted.

This move by @realDonaldTrump confirms what we have all known for weeks — that his decision to release the #NunesMemo was a blatantly political move made without concern for national security. The hypocrisy is on full display. What does the President have to hide?

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) February 9, 2018

Trump on Friday blocked the release of the Democratic document, which aims to rebut the Nunes memo alleging that senior FBI and Justice Department officials misused their authority to obtain a surveillance order on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

In a letter to Nunes, White House counsel Don McGahn said that the president was “inclined to declassify” the Democratic memo, but that administration officials believed it would create “especially significant concerns” for national security.

After the GOP memo was made public last week, Trump declared that it “totally vindicates” him in the investigation into whether members of his campaign conspired with Russia to sway the 2016 election. 

Democrats raised concerns about the Republican memo, however, saying that it omitted necessary information to put its claims in the proper context.