Page 14 - Declassification Authority News Today

We have to look at this together with a series of incidents, including recently. the presidents decision to authorize to the attorney general declassification authority, allowing him to essentially declassify anything he sees fit vis-a-vis the start of the russia investigation. weve all heard the news reports that informants in russia may have been key to the start of that investigation. all of these steps send a chill down the spine of the brave men and women who want to help us and who we and ...

>> i dont think so. i think that the attorney general is going to be able to work with the intelligence committee, im sorry, the intelligence community. lets keep in mind that its only -- declassification authority only applies to the investigation regarding the 2016 election and the declassification authority is staying particularly with this attorney general, it does not get inherited by the next attorney general, so its only a temporary authority for this specific purpose, its not as if the a...

They are trying to redo the mueller report, they are trying to make up other stuff and at the end of the day it would be political suicide for them to impeach. >> sam, your thoughts on this battle between the president and house democrats. >> well, i think that at the end to have day in role of head of executive branch the president has interest in transparency. the attorney general also believes in transparency which is why he transmitted as much as the mueller report as possibly could to the h...

View is giving this authority to attorney general william barr? r -- >> well something thats important development in the intelligence community and the relationship to the department of justice, however, we need to keep in mind that the attorney general not only was prior the attorney general, this is the second stint in the position but also have record of working in terms of legal policy, working as a lawyer in dc and very well-respected, hes very well-respected figure. individual that has tr...

The ladder, although i dont have -- based on the history thus far, im not real confident in that. to me, anderson, the bigger issue here, of which im unclear of is what exactly is the scope of this declassification authority? if it, in fact, means the entire russia investigation, meaning the intelligence work done on the interference, which goes back year, or is it more narrowly focused on the origins of the counterintelligence investigation? and from the media reporting, its not clear which it ...

Of those sources, among them may well be a person close to president vladimir putin of russia, who provided information to the cia about his involvement in moscows 2016 election interference. one of the former intelligence chiefs squarely in the middle of all of this, of course, is retired lieutenant general james clapper, director of national intelligence in the 2016 presidential election campaign. hes also the author of facts and fears, hard truths from a life in intelligence. and were glad to...

Trump demanding the information be turned over? >> there was no doubt that he was and that he did. thats why his statement was rather cautious. he said he would hand over all appropriate information because when it comes to the intelligence agencies, those agencies safeguard sources and methods, information more tightly and more carefully than anything else and they are today extremely nervous about what the president has done. because never, mike, has a president delegated so broad a declassifi...

You work for national security. what do you just of him saying to his political butler, william barr, the attorney general who seems to serve him in every way. every agency in the united states, all the intelligence agency and release any information you want in the purpose of destroying the reputation of the mueller probe. because thats your goal, destroy the mueller probe and its reputation. >> chris, its totally extraordinary. once again, its him putting his own conspiracy theory-based politi...

Campaign was doing with russian operatives. >> lets go back to what he said today. what do you make of the fact that you work with national security and he is saying with his political butler, william barr who seems to serve him in every way. you have the ability to go with every agency and release any information you want in the purpose of destroying the reputation of the mueller probe. thats your goal. destroy the mueller probe and his reputation. >> chris, its totally extraordinary. its him p...

Democrats authority to investigate the administration as the president gives his attorney general sweeping power to investigate the investigators. our nbc team is here with this story and all others. we will bring you this hour that matter to you today. i must start with my colleague kelly odonnell at the white house and leanne on capitol hill. the president is about to get on a plane to japan. he is leaving the country and there is trouble at home. >> yes, typically speaker pelosi is very caref...