Trump appears to joke about release of memo: "Oh yeah, don't worry, 100 percent"
President Trump — after an 80-minute State of the Union address filled with more than 110 rounds of applause and more than 70 standing ovations Tuesday night — addressed the release of the controversial House Intelligence Committee memo with the wave of his hand.
Mr. Trump made the comments — first noticed by CBS News' Alan He — as he was about to exit the House chamber Tuesday night, addressing a plea from Jeff Duncan, R-South Carolina. The classified memo — crafted by Republican staff on the House Intelligence Committee and detailing alleged abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by the Department of Justice and FBI. Republicans on the committee voted to release the memo Monday night, and the president has five days from that vote to decide whether he wants to object to the memo's release.
"Let's release the memo," Duncan told the president after the conclusion of the speech.
"Oh yeah, don't worry, 100 percent," Mr. Trump responded, waving his hand as he did.
Mr. Trump added smilingly, "Can you imagine that?" Then, pointing to another member of Congress, said, "He'd be too angry."
CLIP: As President Trump exits the House Chamber, @RepJeffDuncan asks him to #ReleaseTheMemo. #SOTU #SOTU2018 pic.twitter.com/O1hHYFdPxM
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 31, 2018
As of earlier in the afternoon Tuesday, Mr. Trump had yet to read the memo, which was being vetted by intelligence agencies. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders in the past has said the White House believes in "full transparency" when it comes to the memo.
Democrats fear Republicans are using the memo to undermine the credibility of the intelligence community as special counsel Robert Mueller investigates Russian election meddling and any ties to the Trump campaign.
CBS News' Alan He contributed to this report.