The
White House on Sunday brushed aside congressional Democrats’ concerns
about Atty. Gen. William Barr being handed extraordinary powers to declassify sensitive intelligence as part of a probe into the origins of the investigation into Russian efforts to sway the 2016 election.
Reflecting
his anger over unflattering depictions of his actions in the report by
special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, including several episodes that
might have constituted obstruction of justice, President Trump has
authorized the attorney general to investigate the investigation. Trump
and his allies have long insisted that the FBI improperly “spied” on his
campaign.
Democrats already have accused Barr of trying to put the best possible face
on Mueller’s findings and say they fear he will selectively release
documents in an effort to undermine public confidence in the nation’s
intelligence agencies and Mueller’s investigators.
Mueller’s report itself documents activities during the 2016 presidential campaign that caught the attention of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including information passed along by Australian officials concerning a Trump campaign advisor, George Papadopoulos, who told an Australian diplomat that Democratic emails had been stolen by the Russians before the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer system became public knowledge.
Democrats already have accused Barr of trying to put the best possible face
on Mueller’s findings and say they fear he will selectively release
documents in an effort to undermine public confidence in the nation’s
intelligence agencies and Mueller’s investigators.
Mueller’s report itself
documents activities during the 2016 presidential campaign that caught
the attention of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies,
including information passed along by Australian officials concerning a
Trump campaign advisor, George Papadopoulos, who told an Australian
diplomat that Democratic emails had been stolen by the Russians before
the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer system
became public knowledge.
When
Republicans had the majority in the House, Intelligence Committee
Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) spent nearly two years investigating the
same issues without producing evidence to back up Trump’s claims.
White
House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted Sunday that the
administration is not prejudging Barr’s findings, but expressed
confidence, without offering proof, that he would be able to document
“outrageous” corruption at the FBI.
“I’m
not going to get ahead of what the final conclusion is, but we already
know that there was a high level of corruption that was taking place,”
Sanders, in Tokyo with the president on a state visit to Japan, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Questioned
by host Chuck Todd about whether Barr could be trusted not to
cherry-pick information, Sanders defended the decision to give Barr
declassification powers that have traditionally been jealously guarded
by intelligence agencies.
“That’s
the reason that he’s granted the attorney general the authority to
declassify that information – to look at all the documents necessary…so
that we can get to the very bottom of what happened,” she said. “Once
again, we already know about some wrongdoing.”
Congressional
Democrats have sharply questioned whether the administration is acting
in good faith. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who presently chairs the
House Intelligence Committee, said the president’s decision, announced
on the eve of the Memorial Day weekend, allowed Trump and Barr to
“weaponize law enforcement and classified information against their
political enemies.”
Trump allies denied that the president’s actions in any way undermined the core missions of the intelligence community.
“We’re not compromising national security here,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has emerged as one of Trump’s staunchest congressional defenders.
Graham, interviewed on “Fox News Sunday,” said that he believed Barr
“can be trusted” not to manipulate information in the president’s favor.
“The
people who are worried about this are worried about being exposed for
taking the law into their own hands,” said Graham, who chairs the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
Trump
himself defended Barr’s review, saying before he left for Japan that it
was not meant to avenge himself on political opponents.
“It’s
not payback – I don’t care about payback,” he told reporters. “I think
it’s very important for our country to find out what happened.”
The
push by the White House to investigate those who investigated the
president comes against the backdrop of across-the-board resistance by
Trump to congressional oversight. At least a dozen separate battles are
playing out over congressional subpoenas of documents and individuals on
matters including the Mueller report and Trump’s tax returns.
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco so far has resisted calls by some
Democratic lawmakers to open impeachment proceedings against the
president, especially if he continues to reject Congress’ authority to
carry out investigations of the president’s conduct and finances. She
argues that impeachment remains premature, although she has accused Trump of a “cover-up.”
An early backer of impeachment, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said Sunday she believed that Pelosi eventually would relent.
“I
think it’s moving toward that,” she said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,”
adding that “the traditional congressional oversight process isn’t
working.”
The
chairman of the Democratic caucus, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York,
defended Pelosi’s go-slow approach, saying that for now, investigating
Trump “methodically yet aggressively” was the best approach, while
simultaneously working to advance the Democrats’ legislative agenda.
“Democrats
can sing and dance at the same time, just like Beyonce,” he said on
NBC. “We will not overreach. We will not over-investigate,” he added.
On
the Republican side, however, there was increasing willingness to echo
Trump’s call for drastic punishment of law enforcement figures who
helped move the investigation forward.
Rep.
Liz Cheney of Wyoming, interviewed on ABC’s “This Week,” said the
origins of Mueller’s investigation were suspect because statements by
FBI agents during the 2016 campaign sounded “a whole lot like a coup.”
She
was referring in part to texts critical of Trump that were exchanged by
two bureau officials, including former agent Peter Strzok, who was
removed from the Mueller probe when the messages came to light and
subsequently forced out, and lawyer Lisa Page, who has also left the
FBI.
“It could well be treason,” Cheney said.
Cheney’s
comments drew an irate riposte on Sunday from Preet Bharara, who was
fired by Trump as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Legal experts have pointed out that the Constitution says treason consists of “levying war against” the United States or giving “aid and comfort” to its enemies.
“Elected
officials keep making casual, ignorant, idiotic accusations of
‘treason.’ … Just saw Liz Cheney do it,” Bharara wrote on Twitter. “Read
the Constitution.”
[Los Angeles Times]
