Tag: House Intelligence committee

‘It’s taken partisanship to a place it’s never been.’ Inside the House Intelligence Committee.

The following article by Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website March 21, 2018:

House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), right, and ranking member Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) confer during a break from the panel’s hearing with then-FBI Director James B. Comey in March 2017. (J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press)

The House Intelligence Committee will vote Thursday to approve a Republican-drafted report that aims to be Congress’s first official word on just what Russia and the Trump campaign did during the 2016 presidential election, a document expected to further complicate what’s become a contentious relationship among the lawmakers who have conducted the investigation.

Over the past year, the demand for a detailed, public assessment of Russian interference and the allegations of collusion surrounding President Trump has inspired three congressional panels to examine the actions of Trump’s affiliates during and after the election. But where others have mounted a bipartisan effort, the House Intelligence Committee has fractured along party lines, earning a reputation more for sniping than as a voice of investigative authority. Continue reading “‘It’s taken partisanship to a place it’s never been.’ Inside the House Intelligence Committee.”

Cambridge Analytica’s Dirty Tricks Elected Trump, CEO Claims

The following article by Nico Hines was posted on the Daily Beast website March 20, 2018:

Alexander Nix, the CEO of Cambridge Analytica, claimed they used proxies in the U.S. to influence the 2016 election.

Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero, The Daily Beast

LONDON—British political consultants that worked for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said they secretly used proxy organizations and super PACs to spread ads in the U.S. that could not be traced back to the Trump campaign.

Alexander Nix, the CEO of Cambridge Analytica, was secretly recorded by undercover reporters from Channel 4 in Britain who were posing as prospective clients. “There’s no evidence, there’s no paper trail, there’s nothing,” said Nix, reassuring them that his company’s dirty tricks for his clients would never be detected. Continue reading “Cambridge Analytica’s Dirty Tricks Elected Trump, CEO Claims”

Intel panel Republicans seem to back away from finding that Russia was not trying to help Trump

The following article by Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website March 13, 2018:

House Intelligence Committee Democrats said they will keep investigating Russia and the 2016 election, despite a decision by Republicans to shut down the probe. (Reuters)

The leader of the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation seemed to back off Tuesday from the most surprising finding in the GOP’s report that Russia was not trying to help President Trump, as the panel’s top Democrat trashed the product as a political gift to the White House.

Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.) told reporters Tuesday that “it’s clear [Russian officials] were trying to hurt Hillary [Clinton]” by interfering in the 2016 election and that “everybody gets to make up their own mind whether they were trying to hurt Hillary, help Trump, it’s kind of glass half full, glass half empty.” Continue reading “Intel panel Republicans seem to back away from finding that Russia was not trying to help Trump”

House Republicans Are Realizing Premature End to Russia Probe Made Them Look Ridiculous: Report

The following article by Cody Fenwick was posted on the AlterNet website March 15, 2018:

By contradicting the CIA and FBI, the House Intelligence Committee damaged its credibility.

House Republicans appear to be realizing that they undermined their credibility when they reported their conclusions about the Russia investigation this week.

According to a report from Politico, aides to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) had to corral the communications staffers of House Republicans after Intelligence Committee members discussed their widely criticized conclusions on the investigation into 2016 election meddling. Continue reading “House Republicans Are Realizing Premature End to Russia Probe Made Them Look Ridiculous: Report”

Democratic House Intelligence Committee Response

Haven’t had a chance to read the Democratic House Representatives’ members of the House Intelligence Committee response to the Republican members’ memo?

Here’s a link to the PDF:

democrat_memo_charge_and_response

Republicans on House panel, excluding Democrats’ input, say there’s no evidence of Russia collusion

The following article by Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website March 12, 2018:

President Trump called the conclusion of the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee “a powerful decision that left no doubt” of collusion. Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

House Intelligence Committee Republicans say they have found no evidence that President Trump and his affiliates colluded with Russian officials to sway the 2016 election or that the Kremlin sought to help him, a conclusion at odds with Democrats’ takeaways from the congressional panel’s year-long probe and the apparent trajectory of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation.

The findings are part of a 150-page draft report that Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.), who oversees the committee’s Russia probe, announced on Monday. It will probably be weeks before the document is made public. Continue reading “Republicans on House panel, excluding Democrats’ input, say there’s no evidence of Russia collusion”

Hope Hicks told House Intelligence Committee she was hacked, sources say

The following article by Jonathan Allen, Mike Memoli and Ken Delanian was posted on the NBC News website March 7, 2018:

WASHINGTON — A day before she resigned as White House communications director, Hope Hicks told the House Intelligence Committee last week that one of her email accounts was hacked, according to people who were present for her testimony in the panel’s Russia probe.

Under relatively routine questioning from Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., about her correspondence, Hicks indicated that she could no longer access two accounts: one she used as a member of President Donald Trump’s campaign team and the other a personal account, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the closed meeting of the Intelligence Committee was supposed to remain private. Continue reading “Hope Hicks told House Intelligence Committee she was hacked, sources say”

How Partisan Has House Intelligence Panel Become? It’s Building a Wall

The following article by Sharon LaFraniere and Nicholas Fandos was posted on the New York Times website February 8, 2018:

Democrats accuse House Intelligence Committee’s chair, Rep. Nunes of using the position’s coveted access to classified information for the nakedly political purpose of bolstering President Trump. Credit Erin Schaff, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Beneath the Capitol, in a secured room where the House Intelligence Committee is supposed to be pressing its inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, two dozen staff members await a construction crew.

The workers will be erecting a physical barrier to separate the cubicles of aides who serve Republican members of the committee from those who serve Democrats.

To committee members of both parties, the planned division of one room into two is emblematic of how far the panel, a longtime oasis of country-first comity in a bitterly divided Congress, has fallen since it began its Russia inquiry last year. Any pretense that committee members will come together to get to the bottom of that matter — or any other — has disappeared. Continue reading “How Partisan Has House Intelligence Panel Become? It’s Building a Wall”

Rep. Adam Schiff, leading Democrat in Russia probe, gets a new Trump nickname

The following article by Noah Bierman was posted on the Los Angeles Times website February 5, 2018:

President Trump flashed anger at one of his leading antagonists in the Russia probe, mocking Rep. Adam Schiff’s personal appearance and accusing him without evidence of illegally leaking “confidential information.”
Continue reading “Rep. Adam Schiff, leading Democrat in Russia probe, gets a new Trump nickname”

House panel clears release of Democrats’ rebuttal to GOP memo, forcing showdown with Trump

The following article by Karoun Demirjian and Devlin Barrett was posted on the Washington Post website February 5, 2018:

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) on Feb. 5 said the House Intelligence Committee voted to release Democrats’ response to a GOP memo alleging surveillance abuses. (The Washington Post)

The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously Monday to release a Democratic rebuttal to GOP accusations that the FBI misled a secret surveillance court. President Trump now has five days to decide whether the information will become public.

The vote means the political rancor roiling Congress is likely to continue. Each party has accused the other of misrepresenting sensitive intelligence surrounding the ongoing probe into whether any Trump associates coordinated with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Continue reading “House panel clears release of Democrats’ rebuttal to GOP memo, forcing showdown with Trump”