The White House is in the midst of reviewing a memo — compiled by Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee — that must be released in the next four days following a committee vote earlier in the week.
The memo was compiled in response to its now released Republican counterpart which alleges broad abuse of FISA authority by top officials in both the Department of Justice and the FBI. Democratic lawmaker Adam Schiff said he fears “political redactions” from the White House during the intelligence review.
White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley pushed back on these assertions during a Wednesday interview with Fox News.
“I can tell you the president plans to follow the same process and procedure that he did with the Republican memo,” he stated. “That’s where we are right now at this moment. The president has read it.”
Gidley added that President Donald Trump is reviewing the memo with his team for national security concerns, and “if anything is in there that puts American lives at risk or jeopardizes national security, he has an easy decision to make. It’s not to release it.”
After the President makes his decision on the memo, he will transfer it back to the House Intelligence Committee who will then release it the public.
Representative Trey Gowdy charged Democratic lawmakers with peppering their memo with sources and methods requiring redactions by the White House, which in turn could be criticized as political censorship.
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