White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told reporters on Monday that the Trump administration looks “forward to releasing” the Democratic rebuttal to the Republican memo accusing the FBI and Justice Department of running a corrupt investigation on Russia — but only after Democrats “clean it up.”
“I think the reality is that the White House will look forward to releasing that memo,” Short said. He added, “I think the president made the right decision to say, ‘look if that’s the game you play I’m going to send it back to you.’ You clean it up, you work with the F.B.I., and then send it back to us and we’re happy to release it.”
The “game” Short accused Democrats of playing was “intentionally [putting] sources and methods in the document knowing the White House wouldn’t be able to release it.”
Trump blocked the release of the Democratic memo on Friday, claiming that it was too “political,” despite the Republican memo being a blatantly partisan attack on the intelligence community.
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California Rep. Adam Schiff, who drafted the Democratic document, said “reviewing the recommended redactions from D.O.J. and F.B.I., which these agencies shared with the White House and look forward to conferring with the agencies to determine how we can properly inform the American people about the misleading attack on law enforcement by the G.O.P. and address any concerns over sources and methods.â€
At this point, it’s clear Trump will not release anything unless it leaves him looking good.
