Following President Donald Trump’s directive to release House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) anti-FBI memo Friday afternoon, the White House released a statement saying Trump has “great respect” for the law enforcement and intelligence community.
“This decision was made with input from the President’s national security team —including law enforcement officials and members of the intelligence community, for whom the President has great respect,” she said. “He is especially grateful to the hardworking rank-and-file public servants who work every day to keep America safe and uphold our laws while protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans.”
The statement comes after Trump decided to release the memo that his own Department of Justice and FBI Director warned him against releasing, saying they had “grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”
Trump has spent months denigrating the FBI and making claims about an anti-Trump bias within the agency.
Read the full statement from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders:
“Earlier today, President Donald J. Trump declassified a memorandum from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The memorandum raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI to use the Government’s most intrusive surveillance tools against American citizens.
“This decision was made with input from the President’s national security team—including law enforcement officials and members of the intelligence community, for whom the President has great respect. He is especially grateful to the hardworking rank-and-file public servants who work every day to keep America safe and uphold our laws while protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans.
“Minority members of the Committee have reportedly drafted a separate memorandum. The Administration stands ready to work with Congress to accommodate oversight requests consistent with applicable standards, including the need to protect intelligence sources and methods.”
