[Politco 19 Jan 2020] President Donald Trump on Tuesday authorized the declassification of a set of documents connected to the investigation of his 2016 campaign’s contacts with Russia.Trump has long declared his intention to make public more of the sensitive materials underlying the probe, which he has maligned as a "witch hunt," despite findings that his campaign sought and relied upon materials obtained by Russia to aid his campaign against Hillary Clinton.
Trump has spent his final weeks in office seeking to erase any vestiges of the investigation, pardoning key figures such as George Papadopoulos, the 2016 campaign aide whose interactions with a Russia-linked professor helped ignite the probe, known as Crossfire Hurricane.
It’s unclear which documents Trump has ordered declassified less than 24 hours before he leaves office. He cited the decision as based on the results of a Dec. 30 review he asked the Justice Department to perform. The department presented him with a "binder of materials" that remain classified, he said in a memorandum issued on Tuesday. Trump said he then asked for the documents to be declassified to "the maximum extent possible."
The FBI responded that it believed that all of the materials should remain classified, but that some were particularly crucial and should at least be redacted.