US President Donald Trump has asked the Democratic lawmakers to redo a classified memo about government surveillance of a former Trump campaign advisor before it is released. Trump had earlier refused to approve the release of the 10-page memo written by Democratic minority members of the House Intelligence Committee. "Told them to re-do and send back in proper form!" Trump said in a tweet yesterday. "The Democrats sent a very political and long response memo which they knew, because of sources and methods (and more), would have to be heavily redacted, whereupon they would blame the White House for lack of transparency," he said. The Democrats slammed Trump for declining to give his consent to release the memo. "The President's double standard when it comes to transparency is appalling.
The rationale for releasing the Nunes memo, transparency, vanishes when it could show information that's harmful to him. Millions of Americans are asking one simple question: what is he hiding? Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. The House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley said that if Trump has nothing to hide, he should release the Democratic memo. "This brazen attempt to keep the truth from Americans is a full-fledged attack on our Democracy," he said. "This is particularly disturbing given that just one week ago, President Trump released a partisan memo drafted by his Republican allies. President Trump clearly doesn't want Americans to have access to the truth," Crowley said.
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