Tag: House Intelligence committee

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.

Comey reaches agreement with Republicans for testimony

Former FBI director James Comey will testify before Congress in private this week after reaching a deal with Republicans and dropping his challenge to a House subpoena.

His lawyer, David Kelly, confirmed to The Hill that Comey had reached an agreement to testify on Friday.

Comey tweeted earlier Sunday that he had reached a deal with Republican lawmakers regarding his testimony, which he wanted to give in a public hearing.

View the complete December 2 article by Megan Keller on The Hill website here.

‘Pages of lies’: Democratic lawmaker reveals how Devin Nunes has buried key evidence in the Russia probe

Credit: MSNBC Screengrab

Rep. Eric Swalwell is convinced that the outgoing GOP House Intelligence chairman has covered for Trump’s wrongdoing.

With President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen spilling the beans on Trump’s participation in his team’s illicit negotiations with the Russians in a plea agreement with special counsel Robert Mueller, the allegations of collusion are looking more serious by the day. And one person who does not come off looking good amid the whole affair is outgoing House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), who will cease to lead the committee next year as Democrats assume the House majority.

Nunes, a close ally of Trump, has gone to great lengths to twist his committee’s investigative power away from Trump’s ties to Russia and onto the supposed misconduct of federal investigators who were looking into Trump’s ties to Russia, from writing a shoddy, partisan memo that alleged the FBI improperly obtained FISA warrants against the Trump campaign, to traveling to London to try to get British intelligence officials to discredit ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele’s dossier on Trump.

And the worst part of it all, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House” on Thursday, is that Nunes was sitting on real evidence of wrongdoing by Trump and his family, could have pursued the matter, and did not.

View the complete November 29 article by Matthew Chapman on the AlterNet.org 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.

House Intel chair calls for ban on electronic voting systems

The following article by Julia Machester was posted on the Hill website July 26, 2018:

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) called for a ban on electronic voting systems in an interview that aired Thursday on Hill.TV’s “Rising.”

“The one thing we’ve been warning about for many, many years on the Intelligence committee is about the electronic voting systems,” Nunes told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton, who sat with the lawmaker on Wednesday.

“Those are really dangerous in my opinion, and should not be used. In California — at least in the counties that I represent — they do not use an electronic system,” he continued.

View the complete article here.

Newly released documents prove GOP lied about FBI’s Russia probe

The following article by Emily Crockett was posted on the ShareBlue.com website July 23, 2018:

We now know that Trump and Republicans shamelessly lied to the American people about why the FBI decided to investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.

The Trump administration released a pile of documents on Saturday that proves what most sensible observers already knew: Trump and Republicans shamelessly lied to the American people about why the FBI decided to investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.

These documents — the FBI’s original requests for surveillance on Trump campaign aide Carter Page — come to us thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request from multiple news outlets.

The documents were heavily redacted, but they still told us a lot — most importantly that House Republicans lied, and probably knew they were lying, with their “release the memo” debacle earlier this year.

View the complete article here.

‘Throw the bums out’ of Congress to protect Russia probe, top Democrat says

The following article by Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website May 27 2018:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on May 27 defended the FBI from accusations it placed a “spy” in the Trump campaign. (JM Rieger/The Washington Post)

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Sunday called on voters to “throw the bums out” of Congress whom he has accused of trying to help President Trump undermine the special counsel’s Russia probe.

“The only thing that makes this possible is a Congress that is complicit,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said on ABC News’s “This Week,” naming several conservative leaders in the Republican Party and accusing “a weak” Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) of refusing to “stand up for the independence of the Justice Department.” Continue reading “‘Throw the bums out’ of Congress to protect Russia probe, top Democrat says”

Nunes blames ‘radical leftists’ for his failing re-election campaign

The following article by Caroline Orr was posted on the Shareblue.com website April 28, 2018:

With his congressional seat in danger, Devin Nunes is desperately blaming his own failures on imaginary boogeymen.

Credit: Joshua Roberts

With his House seat no longer considered ‘safe’ by election forecasters, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is looking for someone to blame for his failing re-election campaign.

Instead of considering that his own failures may explain his sinking campaign, Nunes is pointing the finger at the right-wing’s go-to boogeyman: “radical leftists.” Continue reading “Nunes blames ‘radical leftists’ for his failing re-election campaign”

GOP intel member says committee’s report does not vindicate Trump

The following article by Tommy Christopher was posted on the Shareblue.com website April 29, 2018:

Trump’s ‘no collusion’ lie took a beating Sunday, as even Republican attack dog Rep. Trey Gowdy rejected it.

Credit: CBS

Trump seized on the Republican House Intelligence Committee’s sham report this week to once again push his “no collusion” talking point. But South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, a prominent member of that committee, shot the argument down Sunday morning.

On CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” host Margaret Brennan pointed out that Gowdy’s committee did not interview Michael Flynn, among others. And she asked about Trump’s interpretation of the committee’s findings. Continue reading “GOP intel member says committee’s report does not vindicate Trump”

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”