President Trump on Friday walked back his order earlier this week to
declassify information in the ongoing probe into Russian interference in
the 2016 election, saying Justice Department officials and others had
persuaded him not to do so for the time being.
The retreat from his declassification decree
issued just four days ago underscores the ongoing tensions between the
White House and the Justice Department over the probe by special counsel
Robert S. Mueller III, who is examining whether any Trump associates
may have conspired with the Kremlin to interfere in the election.
In a pair of Friday morning tweets, Trump said: “I met with the DOJ
concerning the declassification of various UNREDACTED documents. They
agreed to release them but stated that so doing may have a perceived
negative impact on the Russia probe. Also, key Allies’ called to ask not
to release.
Therefore, the Inspector General has been asked to review these
documents on an expedited basis. I believe he will move quickly on this
(and hopefully other things which he is looking at). In the end I can
always declassify if it proves necessary. Speed is very important to me -
and everyone!”
His reversal was preceded by a series of conversations between White
House lawyer Emmet Flood and senior law enforcement and intelligence
officials — chief among them Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein,
according to people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
[Analysis: All the documents in the Carter Page saga, ranked by what you should pay most attention to]
Flood had been engaged in those discussions for weeks, but the pace and
intensity of the talks picked up considerably after the president’s
declassification announcement, these people said.
Trump was also swayed by foreign allies, including Britain, in deciding
to reverse course, these people said. It wasn’t immediately clear what
other governments may have raised concerns to the White House.
On Monday, the president ordered the Justice Department to declassify
significant materials from the Russia investigation, a move that
threatened another showdown with federal law enforcement officials
resistant to publicizing information from an ongoing probe.
The White House issued a statement Monday saying Trump was ordering the
department to immediately declassify portions of the secret court order
to monitor former campaign adviser Carter Page, along with all
interviews conducted as officials applied for that authority.
Trump also instructed the department to publicly release the unredacted
text messages of several former high-level Justice Department and FBI
officials, including former FBI director James B. Comey and former
deputy director Andrew McCabe.
For months, conservative lawmakers have been calling on the department
to release Russia-related and other materials, many of them accusing
law enforcement of hiding information that might discredit the Mueller
investigation. Those calls were amplified by Fox News hosts, whom the
president had previously cited as influencing his decision.
Trump’s declaration on Friday appears to indicate he is willing to let
the Justice Department’s inspector general — which is already conducting
an internal investigation of how the Russia probe has been handled —
review the material rather than release it publicly.
“Thankfully it seems that saner minds have prevailed, at least for the
time being,” Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) said via email. “This
underscores why the President should be relying on the expertise and
advice of intelligence and law enforcement professionals, not cable news
hosts.”
Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report.
