Since Special Counsel Robert Mueller finished his 2-year-old investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and alleged Trump collusion, 58-year-old Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, continues to insist he has evidence of Russian collusion. Schiff, one of 72-year-old President Donald Trump’s biggest critics on Capitol Hill, can’t stop the politics, even after Mueller rendered his verdict of no collusion, and insufficient evidence for obstruction. Schiff claims he has something that Mueller didn’t have in the way of evidence of collusion, insisting that the June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in N.Y.C. with Russian lawyer Natalia Veseinnitskya, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort was a Kremlin sponsored event. No one has ever established that Natalia had ties to the Kremlin.
Since Mueller’s report, Schiff has refused to accept the findings, considering Mueller’s investigation a “legal matter,” not his ethical and moral inquiry regarding the propriety of the Trump campaign seeking information on former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Schiff mentions nothing of Hillary’s campaign consulting with former MI6 agent Christopher Steele who claimed to have close ties to the Kremlin. Schiff’s unbridled partisanship can’t accept the fact that Mueller has not charged Trump or his inner circle with collusion or obstruction, something he insists he knows best. Accusing Schiff of peddling as false narrative contradicting the Mueller Report, nine Intelligence Committee Republicans called on Schiff to resign. Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Tx.) said Schiff brings disgrace upon the committee, peddling his false narrative despite the March 25 Mueller Report.
Confronted today on the Intelligence Committee, Schiff went into a defensive tirade, blurting out his personal views on Trump and his campaign’s collusion. “You might think it’s OK,” Schiff said. “I don’t,” referring to the Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and Valerie Veseinnitsya, whom Schiff insists works for the Kremlin. Music publicist Rob Goldstone arranged the meeting with his Russian client Emim Agalarov, who apparently knew Veseinnitskya. Veselniitskya wanted to talk about how the 2012 Magnitsky Act preventing Russian adoptions. But Schiff leaps to the conclusion that Vesseinnitskya worked for the Kremlin, claiming to have dirt on Hillary. Schiff ranted today in the committee, insisting he knows best, when Mueller concluded that Trump, his campaign and inner circle did not collude with Russia to help win the 2016 presidential election.
Since Mueller’s report, Schiff can’t accept the findings because it runs counter to his political agenda to either (a) impeach Trump or (b) defeat him in the 2020 election. “Your willingness to continue to promote a demonstrably false narrative is alarming,” Conaway said in a letter signed by all nine Republicans on the Committee asking for Schiff to resign as Committee Chairman. “The findings of the Special Counsel conclusively refute your past and present assertion and have exposed you as having abused you position to knowingly promote false information, having damaged the integrity of this Committee and undermined faith in U.S. government institutions.” Schiff reacted harshly with his same old talking points, having zero validity after Mueller filed his final report. While Schiff said he respects Mueller, he’s morphed the process away from crimes to Trump ethical and more breaches.
Committee Republicans said they have “no faith in your ability to discharge your duties in a manner consistent with your Constitutional responsibility and urge you immediate resignation as Chairman of the Committee.” Instead of admitting that Democrats and his friends in the press went overboard accusing Trump, his campaign and inner circle of Russia collusion and obstruction of justice, Schiff built his case 100% around Trump’s May 9, 2017 firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Schiff never refers to Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein’s three-page letter May 10, 2017, detailing all the reasons behind Comey’s firing. Yet Schiff insists firing Comey was not justified, amounting to obstruction of justice. Barking out old talking points in the Committee, Schiff showed why his extreme partisanship prevents him from faithfully exercising his Constitutional duties in the Intel Committee.
Unable to accept Mueller’s findings, the House Intelligence Committee must find a new Chairman to conduct the people’s business. “We need to restore the trust of the Intelligence Committee,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), asking for Schiff to step down. Schiff hasn’t figured out that he was not appointed as Special Counsel to ascertain, with the greatest nonpartisan certainty as possible, whether or not Russia meddled in the 2016 election and whether or not Trump, his campaign or inner circle colluded with Russia. Mueller’s conclusion, as summarized by Atty. Gen. William Barr March 27, was that Trump did not collude with Russia and did not legally obstruct justice. Whatever Schiff’s personal and political agenda, it has no place in discharging his Constitutional duties as Intel Committee Chairman. Without Schiff resigning, the Committee cannot perform its work.
