Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 22 May 2018

FBI, Justice to 'review' classified info sought by lawmakers

By DESMOND BUTLER and ed surveillance. statement Sunday saying, as communications be- stall last week ahead of
CHAD DAY Rep. Devin Nunes, an ar- "If anyone did infiltrate or tween Steele and Justice Trump's tweet — an appar-
Associated Press dent Trump supporter and surveil participants in a and FBI officials. ent reversal of the White
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the House intel- presidential campaign for The back and forth be- House's initial policy.
White House said Monday ligence committee, has inappropriate purposes, tween the Justice Depart- Rep. Adam Schiff of Cali-
that top FBI and Justice been demanding informa- we need to know about it ment and Congress began fornia, the senior Democrat
Department officials have tion on an FBI source in the and take appropriate ac- with a classified subpoena on the House Intelligence
agreed to meet with con- Russia investigation. tion." from Nunes in late April. The Committee, has called
gressional leaders and "re- The move Monday comes The Justice Department panel didn't publicize the Trump's claim of an em-
view" highly classified in- as the White House tries to probe began in March at subpoena, but the Justice bedded spy "nonsense."
formation the lawmakers combat the threat posed the request of Attorney Department released a let- "His 'demand' DOJ investi-
have been seeking as they by special counsel Robert General Jeff Sessions and ter it sent to Nunes rejecting gate something they know
scrutinize the handling of Mueller's investigation into congressional Republicans. the request for information to be untrue is an abuse
the Russia investigation. potential ties between Rus- Sessions and the lawmakers "regarding a specific indi- of power, and an effort
The agreement came af- sia and the Trump cam- urged Inspector General vidual." The department to distract from his grow-
ter President Donald Trump paign. Michael Horowitz to review said disclosure could have ing legal problems," Schiff
made an extraordinary Trump tweeted Sunday, "I whether FBI and Justice De- severe consequences, in- tweeted. "Never mind that
demand that the Justice hereby demand, and will partment officials abused cluding potential loss of hu- DOJ has warned that lives
Department investigate do so officially tomorrow, their surveillance powers by man life. and alliances are at risk. He
whether the FBI infiltrated that the Department of Jus- using information compiled The Justice Department doesn't care."
his presidential campaign. tice look into whether or not by Christopher Steele, a said the White House had Trump's demand of the Jus-
It's unclear exactly what the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or former British spy, and paid signed off on its letter, but tice Department alarmed
the members will be al- surveilled the Trump Cam- for by Democrats to justify Nunes wasn't satisfied, and many observers, who felt it
lowed to review or if the paign for Political Purposes monitoring Carter Page, a continued to pressure the not only violated presiden-
Justice Department will be - and if any such demands former campaign adviser department. Negotiations tial protocol but also could
providing any documents or requests were made by to Trump. between the House Re- have a chilling effect on
to Congress. people within the Obama Horowitz said his office will publicans and the Justice federal law enforcement or
White House spokeswoman Administration!" look at those claims as well department appeared to its use of informants.q
Sarah Huckabee Sanders Trump's demand for a new
said Trump chief of staff inquiry moved beyond his
John Kelly will broker the usual blustery accusations
meeting between congres- of institutional wrongdoing
sional leaders and the FBI, and into the realm of ap-
Justice Department and plying presidential pressure
office of the Director of Na- on the Justice Department,
tional Intelligence. She said a move few of his prede-
the officials will "review high cessors have made.
classified and other infor- Trump made the order
mation they have request- amid days of public vent-
ed," but did not provide ing about the special coun-
any additional detail. sel investigation, which he
During a meeting with has deemed a "witch hunt"
Trump, Deputy Attorney that he says has yielded no
General Rod Rosenstein evidence of collusion be-
and FBI Director Christo- tween his campaign and
pher Wray also reiterated Russia. In response, the Jus-
an announcement late tice Department moved
Sunday that the Justice Sunday to defuse a grow-
Department's inspector ing confrontation with the
general will expand an ex- White House by asking its
isting investigation into the watchdog to investigate
Russia probe by examining whether there was inap-
whether there was any im- propriate surveillance. FBI Director Christopher Wray, right, leaves the White House, Monday, May 21, 2018, in Washing-
ton. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
proper politically motivat- Rosenstein released a