Adam Schiff Blows The Lid Off Of The GOP Ploy To Discredit Russia Investigation To Save Trump

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) exposed how Republicans are meddling in the Russia investigation while recused to discredit attempts to get to the facts while trying to save Donald Trump.

Video:

Transcript via CBS’s Face The Nation:

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

JOHN DICKERSON: And we’re back with California Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, I want to start with a deadline that has passed. The committee has asked the FBI and the Justice Department three times now to give documents related to the so-called “Trump dossier.”

This is the salacious set of allegations that – and the FBI has not responded. What’s going on?

ADAM SCHIFF: Well, this is a subpoena that was issued by our Chairman, and what’s unusual about it is the chair recused himself, or so we thought, from the Russian investigation. He has issued a subpoena to the attorney general, who has also recused himself. So two people recused that are seeking documents or refusing to provide documents on an investigation they were supposed to be uninvolved with. But more than that, I think what is really at heart is an effort to discredit Mr. Steele, in an essence also to put the government on trial as a way, I think, of distracting our focus from looking into what Russia did during the election.

Both Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are supposed to be recused from the investigation, but here they are trying to get House Intelligence Committee off on a wild goose chase over the Steele Dossier. The point is that the more time investigators spend trying to verify the claims in the dossier, the less time they will spend examining potential Trump campaign collusion with Russia.

The Steele dossier has been proven to have some accurate information in it, so Steele is a logical target for a Republican smear campaign. However, the strategy for Republicans on the Russia investigation has always been to muddy the waters by throwing as many different tangents and topics into the mix as they can.

Republicans are trying to distract and sidetrack, but Rep. Schiff’s comments are an example of why this tactic is almost certain to fail.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association