Tag: Rep. Schiff

Adam Schiff: An open letter to my Republican colleagues

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff at the Capitol on Wednesday. Credit: J. Scott Applewhite, AP

This is a moment of great peril for our democracy. Our country is deeply divided. Our national discourse has become coarse, indeed, poisonous. Disunity and dysfunction have paralyzed Congress.

And while our attention is focused inward, the world spins on, new authoritarian regimes are born, old rivals spread their pernicious ideologies, and the space for freedom-loving peoples begins to contract violently. At last week’s Munich Security Conference, the prevailing sentiment among our closest allies is that the United States can no longer be counted on to champion liberal democracy or defend the world order we built.

For the past two years, we have examined Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and its attempts to influence the 2018 midterms. Moscow’s effort to undermine our democracy was spectacularly successful in inflaming racial, ethnic and other divides in our society and turning American against American.

Adam B. Schiff, a Democrat, represents California’s 28th Congressional District in the House and is chairman of the Intelligence Committee.

View the complete February 21 commentary by Rep. Adam Schiff here.

House Intelligence chairman voices concern that Mueller’s scrutiny of Trump’s finances isn’t adequate

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff at the Capitol on Wednesday. Credit: J. Scott Applewhite, AP

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee expressed concern Sunday that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has not adequately scrutinized President Trump’s finances and said House investigators plan to probe Trump’s relationship with a bank implicated in Russian money laundering.

“We are not interested in our committee in whether he’s a tax cheat or not worth what he says he is,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “What we are interested in is, does the president have business dealings with Russia such that it compromises the United States?”

In particular, Schiff said the House panel plans to investigate Trump’s two-decade relationship with Deutsche Bank, a German institution that has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties in recent years after admitting its role in a $10 billion money laundering scheme that allowed clients in Russia to move vast sums overseas.

View the complete February 10 article by Greg Miller on The Washington Post website here.

Trump blasts Schiff as ‘political hack’ over new investigation

President Trump on Wednesday denounced House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) as a “political hack” for opening a sweeping investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia and his personal finances.

“He has no basis to do that. He’s just a political hack who’s trying to build a name for himself,” Trump told reporters at the White House after announcing his pick to lead the World Bank.

“It’s just presidential harassment and it’s unfortunate and it really does hurt our country,” Trump said of the probe.

View the complete February 6 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Schiff defends hiring from administration as Trump feud deepens

The head of the House Intelligence Committee is defending his decision to hire former administration staffers to serve on the panel, saying it is part of a long tradition to hire from the intelligence community.

Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) offered the remarks amid a deepening feud with President Trump, who earlier in the day tweeted that Schiff was “stealing people who work at the White House” to work on his “witch hunt.”

“We have a long tradition of hiring out of the intelligence community, the National Security Council (NSC),” Schiff said. “And if the president is worried about our hiring any former administration people, maybe he should work on being a better employer.”

View the complete February 7 article by Olivia Beaver on The Hill website here.

Adam Schiff hiring full-time team to investigate Trump’s Russia connections

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., is adding more investigative manpower to his committee staff. Credit: Bill Clark, CQ Roll Call file photo

House Intelligence Committee chairman hiring more investigators to revive House Russia probe

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff is sinking panel resources into a robust investigative staff to revive the probe into President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia with roughly seven committee staffers directing their energy full-time.

Schiff and the Democrats have made offers to six new staffers, CBS News reported, including a corruption expert and a former prosecutor. The committee is still looking to hire six more people as Schiff restructures the subcommittee and plans targeted lines of inquiry into the president and his 2016 campaign staff’s connections with Russian officials.

Democrats on the committee will more than double their staff, from 11 to 24 people. About seven will work on the resuscitated Russia probe full-time, while others will help out on a “surge” basis, according to CBS, citing a senior committee official.

View the complete January 15 article by Griffin Connolly on The Roll Call website here.

Trump Blasts ‘Little Adam Schitt’ After He Questions Whitaker Appointment

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., will assume the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee in the new Congress, and will relaunch its Russia investigation. Credit: Bill Clark, CQ Roll Call file photo

Incoming House Intelligence Committee chairman promises to revive its Russia investigation

President Donald Trump bestowed a juvenile nickname on Rep. Adam Schiff on Sunday, but the congressman responded with a barb of his own.

The president and the incoming House Intelligence Committee chairman taunted each other on Twitter, a preview of the coming months, since the rivalry is sure to intensify when Schiff resurrects the committee’s Russia investigation after Democrats assume control of the House of Representatives in January.

Trump lashed out at Schiff in a tweet, dubbing him “little Adam Schitt (D-CA).” He also diverted criticism of his appointment of acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker by questioning the appointment of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

View the complete November 19 article by Emily Kopp on The Roll Call website here.

‘Plenty of evidence of collusion’: Top intel congressman fights Trump lie

The following article by Tommy Christopher was posted on the ShareBlue.com website August 5, 2018:

‘I think there’s plenty of evidence of collusion or conspiracy in plain sight,’ said Rep. Adam Schiff.

© Greg Nash/em>

Trump has been lying about evidence of his presidential campaign’s collusion with Russia for so long that some journalists are beginning to believe it. But the House Intelligence Committee’s ranking member, Adam Schiff (D-CA), totally destroyed that false narrative on Sunday.

On this weekend’s edition of CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” host Margaret Brennan tried to get Schiff to agree to the lie that Trump has been telling for over a year now — that there is “no evidence of collusion” between his campaign and Russia.

“Can you agree that there has been no evidence of collusion, coordination, or conspiracy that has been presented thus far between the Trump campaign and Russia?” Brennan asked Schiff.

View the complete article here.

House Intelligence Committee Republicans release final Russia report

The following article by Matt Zapotosky, Karoun Demirjian and Greg Miller was posted on the Washington Post website April 27, 2018:

President Trump said April 27 he was “very honored” by a report by House Intelligence Committee Republicans from a probe into Russia’s influence campaign. (The Washington Post)

House Intelligence Committee Republicans on Friday released a redacted version of their final report from a year-long probe of Russia’s “multifaceted” influence operation, generally clearing President Trump and his associates of wrongdoing while accusing the intelligence community and the FBI of failures in how they assessed and responded to the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 election.

The report charges the intelligence community with “significant intelligence tradecraft failings,” suggesting, without saying explicitly, that Russia’s main goal was to sow discord in the United States and not to help Trump win the election. It says investigators found “no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government,” even as it details contacts between campaign officials and Russians or Russian intermediaries. Continue reading “House Intelligence Committee Republicans release final Russia report”

Schiff: Trump ‘claims vindication anytime someone sneezes’

The following article by Cristiano Lima was posted on the Politico website February 18, 2018:

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called on President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Russia passed by Congress in response to Russians’ 2016 election meddling. Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Rep. Adam Schiff jabbed President Donald Trump on Sunday for citing the indictment by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team in its probe of Russian election meddling as proof his campaign had not colluded with foreign operatives.

During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” the California Democrat was asked whether he felt the indictment by Mueller proved that Trump campaign officials had not colluded with Russia, as the president has suggested on Twitter.

“No, of course not,” Schiff replied. “But this is a president who claims vindication anytime someone sneezes.” Continue reading “Schiff: Trump ‘claims vindication anytime someone sneezes’”

Schiff Says He Fears Mueller’s Findings Won’t Become Public

The following article by Gopal Ratnam was posted on the Roll Call website February 16, 2018:

Top Intelligence Committee Democrat concerned about politicized decision-making

House Intelligence ranking member Adam B. Schiff is concerned the findings of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian meddling in the 2016 election won’t be made public. Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo

The complete findings of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections may not become public when the probe is completed, California Rep. Adam B. Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Friday.

“One of the issues I have raised with the deputy attorney general” Rod Rosenstein is “how are we going to deal with this when the investigations come to an end?” Schiff said, referring to findings of the Mueller probe. “Will there be a report to Congress and what will Bob Mueller be able to disclose publicly?”

Schiff’s comments came at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. Continue reading “Schiff Says He Fears Mueller’s Findings Won’t Become Public”