President Donald Trump threatened to declassify documents that would be “devastating” to the Democratic Party on Wednesday in an exclusive interview with the New York Post — if House Dems launched investigations into his administration.
“If they go down the presidential harassment track, if they want to go and harass the president and the administration, I think that would be the best thing that would happen to me. I’m a counter-puncher and I will hit them so hard they’d never been hit like that,” the president stated to the outlet.
He continued, “I think that would help my campaign. If they want to play tough, I will do it. They will see how devastating those pages are.”
The Department of Justice released the Carter Page FISA documents back in July, but they were heavily redacted. Many other select sections have been released as well. A memo released by Committee Chairman Devin Nunes showed that the Justice Department and FBI relied heavily on the Democrat-funded Steele dossier in the FISA applications. (RELATED: ‘Witch Hunt Rigged’: Trump Sees ‘Illegal Spying’ After Carter Page FISA Warrant Released)
Trump’s comments come as House Democrats have already begun discussing future investigations. Earlier this month, top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler was overheard talking about Democrats’ plans to investigate and attempt to impeach Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The president also discussed the possibility of a pardon for former campaign chairman Paul Manafort with the NYP. Manafort was recently accused of lying to federal prosecutors, despite entering a plea deal with the government.
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is shown in a court room sketch, during a testimony of a longtime business associate Rick Gates (not shown), on the fifth day of his trial, on bank and tax fraud charges stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S., August 6, 2018. Judge T.S. Ellis (rear C) looks on. REUTERS/Bill Hennessy
“It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table. Why would I take it off the table?” Trump told TheNYP, expressing his dissatisfaction with special counsel Robert Mueller.
“If you told the truth, you go to jail,” he added of the special counsel’s investigation. “You know, this ‘flipping’ stuff is terrible. You flip, and you lie, and you get — the prosecutors will tell you 99 percent of the time, they can get people to flip. It’s rare that they can’t.”