Trump grants Barr authority to declassify government secrets related to Russia probe


The White House announced on Thursday night that President Trump has given Attorney General William Barr "full and complete authority" to declassify intelligence related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
In a statement, the White House said Trump also "directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the attorney general's investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 presidential election." The White House claims this "will help ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions."
Trump has long called the Russia investigation a "witch hunt," and his allies insist the evidence used to launch the FBI probe was flimsy.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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