U.S. intelligence officials are concerned about fallout from President Trump's order that the DOJ declassify documents related to the Russia investigation already deemed too sensitive to be made public and hope his Monday demand still affords time to conduct another formal review.
At issue are documents the FBI used to convince a federal judge in 2016 to allow electronic surveillance of Carter Page, a Trump foreign policy adviser with ties to Russia. Parts of that surveillance application were released in July, but much was held back for national security reasons. Trump ordered some of that still-secret material released, as well as classified reports of all FBI interviews in connection with the application.
Trump also ordered that the FBI release text messages sent and received by law enforcement officials he believes were working against him, including former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, and current Justice Department lawyer Bruce Ohr, a Russian organized crime expert. Sent on unclassified systems, the text messages should not contain Top Secret material.
The FBI interviews in particular, however, could discuss sources in Russia, the release of which could be extremely damaging, former senior intelligence officials who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations told NBC News.
NPR:
"The release of FISAs like this is off the charts," former Assistant Attorney General for National Security David Kris wrote about the secret orders.
"It is especially unprecedented considering that the FISAs have already gone through declassification review and the president is overruling the judgments of his subordinates to require expanded disclosure."
The political context of the move by Trump was made clear in a Sept. 13 speech by Rep. Devin Nunes, the California Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee.
"We need the president to do some more declassification," Nunes said to a sympathetic audience of Trump supporters. He explained that the fall election is "not going to be just about economic growth and running on the economy. It's going be about what the other side did to play dirty, to dirty up a campaign … by corrupting the FBI and the DOJ. That is important for the American people to know as we have to deliver that message going into October, and I am very, very hopeful that the president will make these additional declassifications over the coming weeks."
Trump's directive matched, page for page, the documents Nunes and other Republicans said they had been seeking.
"This is not committees, this is Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan and a couple other members of Congress — who by the way haven't reviewed the information the way members of the Intelligence Committee have — but are just going to do everything in assisting the president's delegitimization of the Mueller investigation," Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
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Speaking on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports," John Brennan, who was CIA director under Obama but also served as an intelligence official during Republican administrations, said it was "highly inappropriate and unethical for Mr. Trump to the take any action that pertains to the FBI criminal investigation of Russian collusion and cooperation with Russia during the election, of which Mr. Trump and close associates are subjects."
Brennan, whose security clearance had been revoked by Trump, added, "He certainly has the authority to do it, but I do think it's highly inappropriate, and I think everybody who knows these issues feels similarly."
NPR:
Carrie Cordero, a former Justice Department national security lawyer who handled such applications, said she was "deeply concerned about the motivations and timing for this upcoming release."
"While transparency about intelligence community operations is important, the continued release of information related to the Russia investigation, the Carter Page FISAs and related materials appears to be for political purposes as we near midterm election," said Cordero, now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
"That neither builds confidence in intelligence community activities nor enhances the nation's security."
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Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House intelligence committee, said he had been "previously informed" by FBI Director Christopher Wray and Rosenstein that some of the materials Trump has ordered to be released amount to a "red line that must not be crossed as they may compromise sources and methods."
Justice, Spy World Veterans Warn Of Consequences If Trump Releases Secret Docs (NPR)
Are intel officials trying to slow Trump order to declassify Russia probe documents? (NBC News)