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Tension spikes between White House, Congress ahead of Trump’s memo decision

February 7, 2018 at 7:37 p.m. EST
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) on Feb. 5 said the House Intelligence Committee voted to release Democrats’ response to a GOP memo alleging surveillance abuses. (Video: The Washington Post)

Tension is growing between Congress and the White House as lawmakers await President Trump’s approval to release a Democrat-authored memo rebutting GOP allegations that the FBI relied on shoddy, politically biased information to conduct surveillance on a former Trump campaign adviser.

Trump is expected to deliver his decision to Capitol Hill as early as Friday. White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly has given the president’s legal team until close of business Thursday to complete its assessment of the Democrats’ memo, which Kelly will then use to brief and advise the president.

Trump has until late Saturday — five days after the House Intelligence Committee voted to release the document — to block it or request redactions.

Democrats say they welcome redactions, so long as they are to protect federal law enforcement’s intelligence-gathering sources and methods. But the House Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), has warned the president against removing additional information for political purposes — irking Republicans, who think Schiff intentionally wrote the Democrats’ memo in a way that would ensure he could later accuse Trump of suppressing parts of it.

Lawmakers argue over memo redactions as they await Trump’s decision on Democrats’ rebuttal

Last week, Trump approved the release of an unredacted four-page Republican memo suggesting the FBI and Justice Department secured a surveillance warrant against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page based on bad information from a former British spy.

Democrats have suggested the GOP memo is an attempt to protect Trump from scrutiny in the ongoing investigations into allegations that his associates coordinated with Russian agents during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Members of both parties also are at odds with the Trump administration over witnesses who’ve resisted answering the intelligence panel’s questions in its ongoing Russia investigation.

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski informed the committee this week that he would not return to complete an interview that was disbanded after Lewandowski said he was not prepared to answer lawmakers’ questions.

Lewandowski is the second top Trump aide whose interview was cut short last month. The intelligence committee issued a subpoena for testimony from Trump’s former campaign adviser and chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon after he attempted to reserve the president’s right to claim executive privilege.

Republicans initially excused Lewandowski’s resistance, accepting his argument that he simply needed more time to prepare answers. But now, Lewandowski’s refusal to testify has infuriated Democrats, who have long called to subpoena him, and put Republicans in an awkward position as they wrestle with whether to issue an official summons — and if they do, whether Lewandowski will respond to it.

The committee has extended Bannon’s subpoena three times while the White House counsel works out terms of the intelligence committee’s interview. But those talks appear to be going nowhere as, according to Schiff, the White House “continues to prohibit Mr. Bannon from testifying to the Committee beyond a set of 14 yes-or-no questions the White House had pre-approved.”

Panel Republicans share the Democrats’ frustration when it comes to Bannon, who they believe must be compelled to testify in their probe if the committee’s subpoenas are to have any weight at all.

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