Donald Trump has ordered the FBI to release a collection of texts from current and former officials at the FBI and DOJ, along with documents associated with a FISA warrant despite warnings from both the FBI and “key allies.” Unsatisfied with the idea that sensitive information might be redacted, Trump has bypassed the normal declassification process and ordered the inspector general to produce them “on an expedited basis.” Trump has also warned that if he doesn’t get what he wants, “I can always declassify if it proves necessary.”
Since the beginning of the year, Republicans have been demanding release of portions of the FISA warrant application for Trump adviser Carter Page. Also from the beginning, the FBI and Department of Justice have warned that doing so would not only endanger sources and methods, but interfere in an ongoing investigation. Since interfering in that investigation is exactly the point, both Donald Trump and his supporters in the House have revisited this effort over. And over. And over. And they’re doing it again with a last minute push to release documents that Republicans can mine for an October surprise.
Previous efforts have resulted in documents that, while heavily redacted, still prove that the basic position behind claims by Trump and Nunes—that the FISA warrant was based either entirely, or mostly, on information from the memos prepared by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele—is simply wrong. Page had, by the time a warrant was issued in 2016, already been the subject of multiple other FISA warrants, all of which pre-dated any work by Steele. But this time, Republicans are out to sharpen the focus. They have only insisted on the declassification of the pages of the FISA warrant associated with Steele’s work. Since that’s all they’ve asked for, it makes it easy to claim that’s all there is.
In addition, they’ve asked the FBI to release all texts from a laundry list of Trump targets: James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and Bruce Ohr. It’s a list they hope to sift not just for matters related to the Page warrant, but for phrases and words that can be taken out of context to generate new Pizzagates, sons of Pizzagate, step-grandsons of Pizzagate, and so on. Did someone say “insurance policy?” Was someone tracking down a leaker? There are ways Republicans can turn everything into a potential conspiracy. And they will.
Though Republicans are still trying to pretend that Trump is following “standard procedures,” the situation is nowhere near normal. Because the immediate response of the FBI and DOJ was to refuse to issue these documents at all.
Both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray made multiple visits to the White House and the House Intelligence Committee to warn that the release of these documents endangered active investigations, agents in the field, and intelligence methods. The release also sets a dangerous precedent of direct interference in an ongoing investigation by officials who may be directly affected by that investigation.
That wasn’t good enough. Under pressure from both sides, the DOJ produced a redacted version of the Page warrant application and other materials. That wasn’t enough. With House Republicans threatening to impeach Rosenstein, more documents were either published or made available to a parade of Republican leaders. But … it still wasn’t enough.
House Republicans have continued to pick away at Rosenstein and, to a much lesser extent, Wray. And they’ve continued to pick through the bones of already available conversations between Strzok and Page to maintain a low-level bonfire on the conspiracy circuit.
But as far as normal de-classification procedures with the FBI and DOJ go, those finished a long time ago: They said no. The information in these documents can’t be released without negatively impacting not just the security of the US, but that of allies. Republicans that stepped over those standard procedures to force a partial release of documents anyway. They then stepped over them again to get more. And now Trump is ordering the inspector general, who is decidedly not part of normal declassification procedures, to hand them over in a hurry. Or else.
Or else he’ll just release them anyway. Which shows that Trump’s punt to the IG is simply for show. After all, if the documents were released right now, they wouldn’t be leaking out just when they’re needed. Say … about October 15.