DEMS/FBI/GOP/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Top officials and investigators at the F.B.I. and Justice Department have ‘politicized the sacred investigative process,’ President Trump said on Friday [2-2-18], hours before the White House is expected to clear the way for Congress to release a controversial memo that is said to describe a bias among senior law enforcement officials.
The early-morning Twitter post reinforced reports that Mr. Trump, in allowing the Republican memo to be released, is seeking to clean house in the upper ranks of the F.B.I. and the Justice Department, even at the risk of losing his own F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray. Earlier this week, Mr. Wray made an unusual public plea not to release the document, which could reveal classified sources and methods.
Blaming senior government officials for favoring Democratics over Republicans is among the main themes in the memo, according to people who have seen it. The memo is said to accuse federal law enforcement officials of abusing their authorities when they sought permission to surveil former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page.
Mr. Trump had an opportunity to block the memo, which his own top national security officials have requested because of national security concerns. But a senior administration official said that the president was expected to tell Congress on Friday that the memo could be released without redactions. The document was written by aides to Representative Devin Nunes of California, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who has been an avid supporter of Mr. Trump.”
-Eileen Sullivan, “Trump Says F.B.I. and Justice Dept. Have ‘Politicized’ Investigative Process,” The New York Times online, Feb. 2, 2018