Trump Authorizes Declassification of Info on 2016 Campaign Surveillance
On Thursday evening, the President and the Press Secretary announced the authorization for AG Barr to declassifying documents and information pertaining to the surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016, and ordering intel agencies to cooperate with an investigation.
Statement on Presidential Memorandum signed tonight pic.twitter.com/wHx6l2lL5c
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) May 24, 2019
Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election. The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information. today’s action will help ensure tha all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions.
In the above clip, CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Jim Acosta discuss the memorandum. Cooper and Acosta both suggest this was an unnecessary step taken basically to distract from a bad news day, a sentiment shared later in the segment by Senator Richard Blumenthal. Acosta also suggests the entire idea of investigating that surveillance is based on false premises and essentially that it’s a waste of time even to investigate and find out the facts.
Perhaps that incurious attitude in the media is precisely why the White House felt a memorandum ensuring cooperation was a necessary step to take publicly, but who knows.
Here are Trump’s tweets, which basically reiterated what Sarah Sanders tweeted as an image.
“Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2019
….during the 2016 Presidential election. The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2019
….Today’s action will help ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions.” @PressSec
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2019
