Trump accuses FBI, DOJ of favoring Democrats ahead of memo release
President Trump on Friday suggested that the FBI and Justice Department have favored Democrats over Republicans in the process that is expected to lead to the release of a Republican memo alleging abuses of a surveillance law. Mr. Trump tweeted that they have "politicized the sacred investigative process" but added that "rank & file are great people."
The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2018
CBS News' Major Garrett reports that the White House expected to inform Congress probably Friday that Mr. Trump is "okay" with publishing the memo prepared by the Republican staff on the House Intelligence Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California.
The committee voted earlier this week to publicly declassify the memo, which outlines alleged abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Republicans have blocked Democrats from releasing their memo on the issue simultaneously.
The president seems to have disregarded the advice of his own FBI director, Christopher Wray, in his decision to soon release the memo. The FBI issued a statement Wednesday that it has "grave concerns" about the memo and the "material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy."
After the president's first State of the Union address, Mr. Trump was overheard telling a Republican congressman as he exited the House chamber that he would release the memo.
"Oh yeah, don't worry, 100 percent," he said.