WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declassified a trove of documents related to the early days of the FBI’s Russia investigation, including a portion of a secret surveillance warrant application and former FBI Director James Comey’s text messages. Trump’s decision will result in the release of text messages and documents involving several top Justice Department and FBI officials who Trump has repeatedly attacked over the last year. Democrats criticized the effort, saying the GOP lawmakers were trying to discredit the Justice Department in an effort to protect Trump from Mueller’s investigation. The declassification of the documents was quickly praised by Trump allies in Congress and attacked by Democrats. Schiff said the FBI and the Justice Department had said releasing the documents would cross a “red line” because doing so would compromise sources and methods.

Source: National Post September 18, 2018 12:30 UTC