A newly declassified memo compiled by House Republicans raises serious questions about the integrity of officials at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a Friday statement.
“The memorandum raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI to use the Government’s most intrusive surveillance tools against American citizens,” Sanders said, adding President Trump “is especially grateful to the hardworking rank-and-file public servants who work every day to keep America safe and uphold our laws while protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans.”
Sanders also opened to door to later declassifying a companion classified memo compiled by Democrats saying, “Minority members of the Committee have reportedly drafted a separate memorandum. The Administration stands ready to work with Congress to accommodate oversight requests consistent with applicable standards, including the need to protect intelligence sources and methods.”
Trump himself reacted to the memo’s release during an appearance in the oval office Friday, saying the alleged bias in the memo was “disgraceful” and that the officials involved should be “ashamed of themselves.”
The memo found that the FBI and the Department of Justice did not disclose of the political origins of the Steele dossier in its FISA application on Trump campaign associate Carter Page and revealed previously undisclosed testimony from former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe that an investigation into Page would not have occurred without the dossier.