tales from air force one
Trump reportedly 'erupted in anger' after Justice Department warned against releasing Nunes FBI memo
On a flight last week, President Trump was apparently fixated on a familiar grievance: the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Bloomberg Politics reported Monday that Trump was in the air en route to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when he was told about the Justice Department's concerns about the possible release of a memo alleging improper FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. The president reportedly "exploded in anger" over the DOJ's recommendation that the memo, authored by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), not be released, because he believes the document would "expose what the president sees as the politically motivated agenda behind Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe," Bloomberg Politics explains.
The DOJ had urged Nunes and other congressional Republicans not to release the memo, saying its publication would be "extraordinarily reckless." Bloomberg Politics reports that Trump has enlisted White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to impart onto DOJ officials "the White House's expectations," adding that "Kelly has taken to ending such conversations with a disclaimer that the White House isn't expecting officials to do anything illegal or unethical."