Democrats sharpen rhetoric after disputed memo release

Democratsyesterday sharpened their rhetoric in the clash over the investigationinto Trump campaign links to Russia, warning the president that firingtop law enforcement officials could “lead to a confrontation we do notneed in America.”The warnings came two days after the Republican-ledHouse intelligence committee released a declassified memo that claimsthat Democrat-funded research prompted the FBI to spy on a former Trumpcampaign aide, Carter Page.Democrats stoutly resisted the memo’srelease, saying it was misleading, and possibly intended to lay thegroundwork for President Donald Trump to fire senior officials andsubvert the Russia meddling investigation led by Robert Mueller.Dick Durbin, the number two Senate Democrat, yesterday warned against any such move.“Thequestion at that moment is whether or not the majority Republicans inthe House and the Senate will stand up for the rule of law and theConstitution if the president takes that extreme position,” Durbin saidon CNN’s State of the Union. “If the president takes this extreme action, I’m afraid that it could lead to a confrontation we do not need in America.”Bothhe and the ranking Democrat on the intelligence committee,Representative Adam Schiff, contested the suggestion that the FBI’srequest to a special court for authority to surveil Page failed to notethat it was based in part on a dossier paid for by Democrats.“The court was notified there was a political actor involved,” Schiff said.“Thegoal here is to undermine the FBI, discredit the FBI, discredit theMueller investigation, do the president’s bidding,” he said on ABC’sThis Week.He said it was “very possible” committee Republicans had “co-ordinated the whole effort with the White House.”Trump tweeted on Saturday that the memo “vindicated” his insistence that there was “no collusion and there was no obstruction.” Butsome Republicans, while supporting the gist of the memo, took pains toshow support for Mueller, deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein and FBIchief Christopher Wray at a time the FBI and Justice Department arefacing almost unprecedented criticism from the president.“I’ve hadmy differences with Rod Rosenstein, and I still think that he is fullycapable of helping run a Justice Department that we can all haveconfidence in,” said Representative Trey Gowdy, chairman of the HouseOversight Committee, on CBS’s Face the Nation.And RepresentativeWill Hurd, a Republican on the intelligence committee, told ABC, “I wantto stress Bob Mueller should be allowed to turn over every rock, pursueevery lead so we can have trust knowing what Russia did or didn’t do.”