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Schiff Memo Could Show Both Sides of the Story; House Intelligence Committee Votes Unanimously for Transparency

Feb. 5, 2018

Schiff Memo Could Show Both Sides of the Story; House Intelligence Committee Votes Unanimously for Transparency

Lisa Gilbert, Vice President of Legislative Affairs, Public Citizen

Note: Today the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence met to discuss the release of the so-called Schiff Memo, to counter the earlier release of the Nunes Memo. The committee voted unanimously to send the Schiff Memo to the White House for approval and release. President Donald Trump now has five days to declassify all or parts of the memo and release it to the public or choose not to do so.

We applaud the House Intelligence Committee for voting to release the minority drafted memo. The House Republicans saw fit to release the contents of their partisan memo, and so we are glad that enough of them decided to stand up for transparency and fairness, and support the release of the memo prepared by U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), based on the same underlying documents. While it was good news that there was nothing in the Nunes Memo that told the tale of the special counsel and Department of Justice (DOJ) misconduct that House Republicans have been pushing, the fact that Trump immediately claimed that it vindicated him completely makes the release of the Schiff memo to explain untold parts of the story even more critical.

The defense of our democracy requires that the special counsel be permitted to proceed unimpeded.

That means threats to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, attacks on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and generalized smears against the DOJ and FBI intended to undermine the Russia investigation are unacceptable. It is mind-boggling that the president of the United States and his allies are far more concerned with concocting groundless attacks on American law enforcement agencies than standing up to fight foreign election interference. And as we draw closer to the next election in 2018, the American people are owed an understanding of the situation and real solutions to ensure that this never happens again.

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