This is about a lot more than a memo. All the talk you hear about this secret-soon-not-to-be secret memo is really just about Russia. The Trump White House is desperate to change the narrative. The Mueller investigation is closing in, and when all else fails, attack the attacker. If Donald Trump (and those complicit with him in Congress) can convince the public that the Mueller investigation is less than credible by releasing this classified memo, it makes it that much easier to fire the special counsel. At least that’s their logic.
But we have crossed a dangerous line here. The memo allegedly makes the case that the F.B.I. used nefarious methods to investigate a Trump campaign staffer. The Director said yesterday he had “grave concerns” over releasing the memo. Regardless, word from the White House is the Nunes memo, named after the GOP representative who’s pushing it, will probably be released today. But late last night, Democrat Adam Schiff, the ranking minority member of the House Intelligence Committee said the memo was edited after the committee voted to release it and before it went to the White House. Wow. Schiff wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post this morning that outlines the dangers of making the memo public.
This decision to employ an obscure rule to order the release of classified information for partisan political purposes crossed a dangerous line. Doing so without even allowing the Justice Department or the FBI to vet the information for accuracy, the impact of its release on sources and methods, and other concerns was, as the Justice Department attested, “extraordinarily reckless.” But it also increases the risk of a constitutional crisis by setting the stage for subsequent actions by the White House to fire Mueller or, as now seems more likely, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, an act that would echo the 1973 Saturday Night Massacre. As multiple investigations work to unearth the full truth, the president has lashed out with Nixonian ferocity at the Justice Department, the FBI, congressional investigators and the media.”
According to the Daily 202, also by The Washington Post, Trump wants the memo released not for what it says but for what it will do:
“Senior White House officials and advisers say that President Trump wants the document published because he sees it as key to making changes at the Justice Department, particularly pushing out Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.”
“Few things have frustrated Trump as much as the law enforcement agencies he cannot fully control,” Josh Dawsey, Devlin Barrett and Karoun Demirjian report. “Allies say he is upset that he can’t control ‘my guys’ at the ‘Trump Justice Department’ and that no one seems particularly loyal to him.
That last sentence should scare the hell out of anyone who loves this country. Saddam Hussein had justice ministers who were loyal to him. So did Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Not a crowd we want to be associated with. There’s no good way to say this. The storm clouds are growing darker over Washington. We are in dangerous times.
But the central question remains, what does Donald Trump fear? If the Russia investigation is “fake news” then let it run its course. What is he worried about?
