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President Donald Trump has triggered a steady stream of criticism in response to his decision to block House Democrats' response to a controversial memo released last week. (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr/cc)
President Donald Trump's decision late Friday to block a memo by House Democrats--which rebuts a "cherry-picked" document released last week that's been decried as "propaganda" meant to discredit the ongoing probe into allegations of collusion and obstruction of justice levied against the Trump campaign--was met with outrage by Democratic lawmakers, ethics experts, and other political observers.
\u201cTHIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. Both GOP & Dems voted to release Dem memo. I read it and am convinced @realDonaldTrump is now intentionally hiding relevant information from the American people in order to mislead the public. An innocent person would not block the memo.\n\n#ReleaseTheDemMemo https://t.co/f2bCtid8DQ\u201d— Ted Lieu (@Ted Lieu) 1518224923
In a letter to the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)--who served on Trump's transition team and is responsible for the creation of the "cherry-picked" memo--Trump's counsel wrote Friday that "although the president is inclined to declassify the [second] memorandum, because the memorandum contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages, he is unable to do so at this time," and teased the possibility that Trump may approve the release of a redacted version.
Critics dismissed as disingenuous the president's claim that he had to block the second memo over national security concerns--pointing out that Trump ignored warnings from his own Justice Department about releasing the first memo, and even attacked top officials at the department and the FBI ahead of its release--and concluded that Trump simply wants to hide the takedown of the Nunes memo from the American public.
\u201cRefusal to release Democratic response to #NunesMemo - evidence of obstruction of justice by Donald Trump happening in real time.\u201d— Richard Blumenthal (@Richard Blumenthal) 1518225514
Rep. Adam Schiff (R-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and the author of his party's response to the "deeply flawed and inaccurate" Nunes memo, said the document blocked by Trump "sets out material facts that were necessary for the public to see that the FBI acted properly in seeking a FISA warrant on Carter Page," a former Trump campaign staffer.
Schiff vowed Friday that Democrats on the Intelligence Committee will be promptly reviewing the redactions proposed by Trump's Department of Justice and the FBI, and "look forward to conferring with the agencies to determine how we can properly inform the American people about the misleading attack on law enforcement by the GOP and address any concerns over sources and methods."
If efforts to redact the Democrats' memo to meet the Trump administration's demands fail, the other option is for the House committee--which voted unanimously to release the second memo--to overrule the president by putting the decision to a full House vote.
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President Donald Trump's decision late Friday to block a memo by House Democrats--which rebuts a "cherry-picked" document released last week that's been decried as "propaganda" meant to discredit the ongoing probe into allegations of collusion and obstruction of justice levied against the Trump campaign--was met with outrage by Democratic lawmakers, ethics experts, and other political observers.
\u201cTHIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. Both GOP & Dems voted to release Dem memo. I read it and am convinced @realDonaldTrump is now intentionally hiding relevant information from the American people in order to mislead the public. An innocent person would not block the memo.\n\n#ReleaseTheDemMemo https://t.co/f2bCtid8DQ\u201d— Ted Lieu (@Ted Lieu) 1518224923
In a letter to the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)--who served on Trump's transition team and is responsible for the creation of the "cherry-picked" memo--Trump's counsel wrote Friday that "although the president is inclined to declassify the [second] memorandum, because the memorandum contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages, he is unable to do so at this time," and teased the possibility that Trump may approve the release of a redacted version.
Critics dismissed as disingenuous the president's claim that he had to block the second memo over national security concerns--pointing out that Trump ignored warnings from his own Justice Department about releasing the first memo, and even attacked top officials at the department and the FBI ahead of its release--and concluded that Trump simply wants to hide the takedown of the Nunes memo from the American public.
\u201cRefusal to release Democratic response to #NunesMemo - evidence of obstruction of justice by Donald Trump happening in real time.\u201d— Richard Blumenthal (@Richard Blumenthal) 1518225514
Rep. Adam Schiff (R-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and the author of his party's response to the "deeply flawed and inaccurate" Nunes memo, said the document blocked by Trump "sets out material facts that were necessary for the public to see that the FBI acted properly in seeking a FISA warrant on Carter Page," a former Trump campaign staffer.
Schiff vowed Friday that Democrats on the Intelligence Committee will be promptly reviewing the redactions proposed by Trump's Department of Justice and the FBI, and "look forward to conferring with the agencies to determine how we can properly inform the American people about the misleading attack on law enforcement by the GOP and address any concerns over sources and methods."
If efforts to redact the Democrats' memo to meet the Trump administration's demands fail, the other option is for the House committee--which voted unanimously to release the second memo--to overrule the president by putting the decision to a full House vote.
President Donald Trump's decision late Friday to block a memo by House Democrats--which rebuts a "cherry-picked" document released last week that's been decried as "propaganda" meant to discredit the ongoing probe into allegations of collusion and obstruction of justice levied against the Trump campaign--was met with outrage by Democratic lawmakers, ethics experts, and other political observers.
\u201cTHIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. Both GOP & Dems voted to release Dem memo. I read it and am convinced @realDonaldTrump is now intentionally hiding relevant information from the American people in order to mislead the public. An innocent person would not block the memo.\n\n#ReleaseTheDemMemo https://t.co/f2bCtid8DQ\u201d— Ted Lieu (@Ted Lieu) 1518224923
In a letter to the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)--who served on Trump's transition team and is responsible for the creation of the "cherry-picked" memo--Trump's counsel wrote Friday that "although the president is inclined to declassify the [second] memorandum, because the memorandum contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages, he is unable to do so at this time," and teased the possibility that Trump may approve the release of a redacted version.
Critics dismissed as disingenuous the president's claim that he had to block the second memo over national security concerns--pointing out that Trump ignored warnings from his own Justice Department about releasing the first memo, and even attacked top officials at the department and the FBI ahead of its release--and concluded that Trump simply wants to hide the takedown of the Nunes memo from the American public.
\u201cRefusal to release Democratic response to #NunesMemo - evidence of obstruction of justice by Donald Trump happening in real time.\u201d— Richard Blumenthal (@Richard Blumenthal) 1518225514
Rep. Adam Schiff (R-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and the author of his party's response to the "deeply flawed and inaccurate" Nunes memo, said the document blocked by Trump "sets out material facts that were necessary for the public to see that the FBI acted properly in seeking a FISA warrant on Carter Page," a former Trump campaign staffer.
Schiff vowed Friday that Democrats on the Intelligence Committee will be promptly reviewing the redactions proposed by Trump's Department of Justice and the FBI, and "look forward to conferring with the agencies to determine how we can properly inform the American people about the misleading attack on law enforcement by the GOP and address any concerns over sources and methods."
If efforts to redact the Democrats' memo to meet the Trump administration's demands fail, the other option is for the House committee--which voted unanimously to release the second memo--to overrule the president by putting the decision to a full House vote.
"This massacre and Israel's media blackout strategy, designed to conceal the crimes committed by its army for more than 21 months in the besieged and starving Palestinian enclave, must be stopped immediately."
The international advocacy group Reporters Without Borders on Monday called on the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency meeting following the massacre of six Palestinian media professionals in an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera reporters Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa, and independent journalist Mohammed al-Khaldi were killed Sunday in a targeted Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strike on their tent outside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The IDF claimed that al-Sharif—one of the most prominent Palestinian journalists—"was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell," repeating an allegation first made last year. However, independent assessments by United Nations experts, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) concluded that Israel's allegations were unsubstantiated.
Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill warned last year that the IDF's portrayal of al-Sharif and other Palestinian journalists as Hamas members was "an assassination threat and an attempt to preemptively justify their murder" for showing the world the genocidal realities of Israel's U.S.-backed war.
"Tonight Israel murdered the bravest journalistic hero in Gaza, Anas al-Sharif," Scahill said Sunday on social media. "For nearly two straight years, he documented the genocide of his people with courage and principle. Israel put him on a hit list because of his voice. Shame on this world and all who were silent."
Al Jazeera condemned Sunday's massacre as "a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza."
RSF issued a statement accusing the IDF of killing the six men "without providing solid evidence" of Hamas affiliation, a "disgraceful tactic" that is "repeatedly used against journalists to cover up war crimes."
The Paris-based nonprofit noted that Israeli forces have "already killed more than 200 media professionals"—including at least 19 Al Jazeera workers and freelancers—since the IDF began its annihilation and siege of Gaza in retaliation for the October 7, 2023 attack led by Hamas.
These include Al Jazeera reporter Ismail al-Ghoul and photographer Rami al-Rifi, who were killed in a targeted strike on the al-Shati refugee camp in July 2024 following an IDF smear campaign alleging without proof that al-Ghoul took part in the October 7 attack. The IDF claimed that al-Ghoul received Hamas military training at a time when he would have been just 10 years old.
"RSF strongly condemns the killing of six media professionals by the Israeli army, once again carried out under the guise of terrorism charges against a journalist," RSF director general Thibaut Bruttin said in a statement. "One of the most famous journalists in the Gaza Strip, Anas al-Sharif, was among those killed."
"This massacre and Israel's media blackout strategy, designed to conceal the crimes committed by its army for more than 21 months in the besieged and starving Palestinian enclave, must be stopped immediately," Bruttin continued. "The international community can no longer turn a blind eye and must react and put an end to this impunity."
"RSF calls on the U.N. Security Council to meet urgently on the basis of Resolution 2222 of 2015 on the protection of journalists in times of armed conflict in order to stop this carnage," he added.
Israel's latest killing of media professionals sparked international condemnation. On Monday, Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, called for an investigation into the massacre, saying that "journalists and media workers must be respected, they must be protected and they must be allowed to carry out their work freely, free from fear and free from harassment."
Recognizing the possibility that he would become one of the more than 61,500 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 2023, al-Sharif, like many Palestinian journalists, prepared a statement to be published in the event of his death.
"This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice," he wrote. "I urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you. Be bridges toward the liberation of the land and its people, until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland."
"Make my blood a light that illuminates the path of freedom for my people and my family," al-Sharif added.
Since October 2023, RSF has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court—which last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes—requesting investigations into IDF killings of journalists in Gaza and accusing Israel of a deliberate "eradication of the Palestinian media."
The six journalists' killings came as Israeli forces prepared to ramp up the Gaza invasion with the stated goal of occupying the entire coastal enclave and ethnically cleansing much of its Palestinian population.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday afternoon that at least 69 Palestinians, including at least 10 children and 29 aid-seekers, were killed in the past 24 hours. An IDF strike on Gaza City reportedly killed nine people, including six children. Five more Palestinians also reportedly died of starvation in a burgeoning famine that officials say has claimed at least 222 lives, including 101 children.
"The Trump-Vance administration is refusing to hand over documents that could show their culpability in hiding international human civil rights abuses," says the president of Democracy Forward.
A coalition of LGBTQ+ and human rights organizations filed a lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Department of State over its refusal to release congressionally mandated reports on international human rights abuses.
The Council for Global Equality (CGE) has accused the administration of a "cover-up of a cover-up" to keep the reports buried.
Each year, the department is required to report on the practices of other countries concerning individual, civil, political, and worker rights protected under international law, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Governments and international groups have long cited these surveys as one of the most comprehensive and authoritative sources on the state of human rights, informing policy surrounding foreign aid and asylum.
The Foreign Assistance Act requires that these reports be sent to Congress by February 25 each year, and they are typically released in March or April. But nearly six months later, the Trump administration has sent nothing for the calendar year 2024.
Meanwhile, NPR reported in April on a State Department memo requiring employees to "streamline" the reports by omitting many of the most common human rights violations:
The reports... will no longer call governments out for such things as denying freedom of movement and peaceful assembly. They won't condemn retaining political prisoners without due process or restrictions on "free and fair elections."
Forcibly returning a refugee or asylum-seeker to a home country where they may face torture or persecution will no longer be highlighted, nor will serious harassment of human rights organizations...
...reports of violence and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people will be removed, along with all references to [diversity, equity, and inclusion] (DEI).
Among other topics ordered to be struck from the reports: involuntary or coercive medical or psychological practices, arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, serious restrictions to internet freedom, extensive gender-based violence, and violence or threats of violence targeting people with disabilities.
Last week, The Washington Post obtained leaked copies of the department's reports on nations favored by the Trump administration—El Salvador, Russia, and Israel. It found that they were "significantly shorter" than the reports released by the Biden administration and that they struck references to widely documented human rights abuses in these countries.
In the case of El Salvador, where the administration earlier this year began shipping immigrants deported from the United States, the department's report stated that were "no credible reports of significant human rights abuses" there, even though such abuses—including torture, physical violence, and deprivation have been widely reported, including by Trump's own deportees.
Human rights violations against LGBTQ+ people were deleted from the State Department's report on Russia, while the report on Israel deleted references to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial and to his government's threats to the country's independent judiciary.
"Secretary Rubio's overtly political rewriting of the human rights reports is a dramatic departure from even his own past commitment to protecting the fundamental human rights of LGBTQI+ people," said Keifer Buckingham, the Council for Global Equality's managing director. "Strategic omission of these abuses is also directly in contravention to Congress's requirement of a 'full and complete report' regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights."
In June, the CGE sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the State Department calling for all communications related to these decisions to be made public. The department acknowledged the request but refused to turn over any documents.
Now CGE has turned to the courts. On Monday, the legal nonprofit Democracy Forward filed a complaint on CGE's behalf in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the department had violated its duties under FOIA to turn over relevant documents in a timely manner.
"The Trump-Vance administration is refusing to hand over documents that could show their culpability in hiding international human civil rights abuses," said Skye Perryman, Democracy Forward's president and CEO.
"The world is watching the United States. We cannot risk a cover-up on top of a cover-up," Perryman continued. "If this administration is omitting or delaying the release of information about human rights abuses to gain favor with other countries, it is a shameful statement of the gross immorality of this administration."
"Our elections should belong to us, not to corporations owned or influenced by foreign governments whose interests may not align with our own," said the head of the committee behind the measure.
The Associated Press reported Monday that a federal appeals court recently blocked Maine from enforcing a ban on foreign interference in elections that the state's voters passed in 2023.
After Hydro-Quebec spent millions of dollars on a referendum, 86% of Mainers voted for Question 2, which would block foreign governments and companies with 5% or more foreign government ownership from donating to state referendums.
Then, the Maine Association of Broadcasters, Maine Press Association, Central Maine Power, and Versant Power sued to block the ballot initiative. According to the AP, last month, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston affirmed a lower-court ruling that the measure likely violates the First Amendment to the federal Constitution.
Judge Lara Montecalvo wrote that "the prohibition is overly broad, silencing U.S. corporations based on the mere possibility that foreign shareholders might try to influence its decisions on political speech, even where those foreign shareholders may be passive owners that exercise no influence or control over the corporation's political spending."
As the AP detailed:
The matter was sent back to the lower court, where it will proceed, and there has been no substantive movement on it in recent weeks, said Danna Hayes, a spokesperson for the Maine attorney general's office, on Monday. The law is on the state's books, but the state cannot enforce it while legal challenges are still pending, Hayes said.
Just months before voters approved Question 2, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the ban, citing fears that it could silence "legitimate voices, including Maine-based businesses." She previously vetoed a similar measure in 2021.
Still, supporters of the ballot initiative continue to fight for it. Rick Bennett, chair of Protect Maine Elections, the committee formed to support Question 2, said in a statement that "Mainers spoke with one voice: Our elections should belong to us, not to corporations owned or influenced by foreign governments whose interests may not align with our own."
A year after Maine voters approved that foreign election interference law, they also overwhelmingly backed a ballot measure to restrict super political action committees (PACs). U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf blocked that measure, Question 1, last month.
"We think ultimately the court of appeals is going to reverse this decision because it's grounded in a misunderstanding of what the Supreme Court has said," Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard professor and founder of the nonprofit Equal Citizens that helped put Question 1 on the ballot, told News Center Maine in July. "We are exhausted, all of us, especially people in Maine, with the enormous influence money has in our politics, and we want to do something about it."