(CNSNews.com) - President Trump told Fox News's Sean Hannity Thursday night that "we're moving along" on the declassification of documents that explain the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, but that several allies had asked him to refrain.
On Friday morning, Trump tweeted that the Justice Department inspector-general “has been asked to review these documents on an expedited basis” before they are released.
The Carter Page FISA application and certain FBI/DOJ text messages are among the documents that Trump has ordered to be declassified without redaction.
At Thursday’s campaign rally in Las Vegas, Trump told Sean Hannity he's been contacted by U.S. allies who are concerned about the declassification. (Former Obama administration officials -- John Brennan and James Clapper among them -- also have objected to declassification on national security grounds.)
"We are also dealing with foreign countries that do have a problem," Trump told Hannity. "I must tell you, I got called today from two very good allies saying, 'Please, can we talk.' So it's not as simple as all of that. And we do have to respect their wishes. But it will all come out," Trump said.
On Friday morning, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House intelligence committee, told Fox News the president is experiencing the same kind of "stonewalling" that Republicans have experienced every step of the way.
“The president was very clear. The president said immediate declassification of all of this information, with no redactions. That's really simple -- immediate with no redactions. That was on Monday. Today, it's Friday. Who's covering up? The DOJ and the FBI, the same people who we had to walk through stonewall after stonewall to get this information out to the American public."
Nunes said it's a simple matter to copy the declassified, unredacted documents and put them on the Internet, but it still hasn't happened. "This could be done in the next few hours, and the fact that it's not being done should worry the hell out of the American people," Nunes said.
Apparently in response to Nunes’ comments, Trump tweeted a short time later:
“I met with the DOJ concerning the declassification of various UNREDACTED documents. They agreed to release them but stated that so doing may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe. Also, key Allies’ called to ask not to release. Therefore, the Inspector General has been asked to review these documents on an expedited basis. I believe he will move quickly on this (and hopefully other things which he is looking at). In the end I can always declassify if it proves necessary. Speed is very important to me -- and everyone!”
