In a statement released last night, House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff made a list of all the people and other sources that the Committee must subpoena to actually investigate the Trump-Russia connection. It proves what we all know: that Devin Nunes and the other Republicans on the Committee are preventing an actual investigation, and using the guise of investigation as a cover-up.
In the intro, Schiff points out that in taking up the investigation, Republicans and Democrats both committed themselves to perform “a thorough investigation that would follow the facts wherever they lead.” However, he says, dozens of relevant witnesses have not been invited, let alone subpoenaed, and many who have testified have gotten away with refusing to answer questions based on specious privilege claims. As well, subpoenas have not been issued for crucial documentary and recorded evidence, despite repeated Dem requests. Schiff writes:
“The integrity and independence of the Committee and Congress’ investigative and enforcement powers are at stake. To be credible, the Russia investigation cannot simply take witnesses at their word, or accept baseless assertions of privilege where none apply. Instead, the Committee must verify assertions made by witnesses in testimony, compel testimony as well as the full production of responsive documents, and, where necessary, move to enforce subpoenas.”
At stake? I think, considering Devin Nunes’s antics sneaking around the White House with the fake Obama bugging claim and the Yo Memo propaganda op (which ended up getting Nunes into more trouble anyway), Schiff’s being overly generous. With this investigation, the integrity and independence of the Committee were dead on arrival.
Schiff provides a partial list of people and information that haven’t been properly pursued, with explanations as to why they should be:
Donald Trump Jr. – refused to answer questions about the June 9 Trump Tower meeting.
Michael Cohen – denied the Steele dossier’s claim that he met with Russian officials… so let’s see the electronic records.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions – refused to answer re obstruction of justice, and didn’t even make an excuse.
Corey Lewandowski – wouldn’t talk about his dealings with Trump after he left the Trump campaign, including a phone call the day before he testified.
Steve Bannon – Bannon would answer “only two dozen scripted, yes-or-no questions” at White House orders.
Hope Hicks – was not subpoenaed when Bannon was—why not? Schiff wants to initiate contempt proceedings against the White House re both Bannon and Hicks.
Deutsche Bank – I quote Schiff: “Deutsche Bank has a history of laundering Russian money and it would negligent of the committee not to determine whether this is a lever the Russians hold over the President and his family.”
Evidence of Comey-Trump Conversations – after Trump tweeted that Comey “better hope there are no tapes” the Committee asked the White House if there are—and has never received a real answer.
Twitter – has DMs between Guccifer 2.0, WikiLeaks, Julian Assange plus other Russian fronts and “a host of Trump campaign personnel.” A host! Twitter won’t cough them up unless subpoenaed.
Encrypted messaging applications – Witnesses have revealed they used encryption in their messages. The app makers should be subpoenaed to reveal what they were hiding.
Phone and Other Communication Records – Junior and other Trump organization people have given the Committee records that “redact phone metadata related to communications with specific phone numbers, including around the time of the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians.” Whose phone numbers are those?
Just to reiterate—this is a partial list.
Of course we know the real Trump-Russia-investigative action is with Robert Mueller, who is subpoenaing whomever he pleases, so it’s not as if Nunes and gang are going to save Trump by this mockery of an investigation. But the garbage they spew to the media influences the public discourse. Kudos to Adam Schiff for exposing the degree of malfeasance in such detail.
We also know that whatever info House Intel has, Mueller has, too. I bet he knows exactly what Trump and Lewandowski talked about just before Corey testified, knows every name of that “host” of Trump campaign personnel who were DMing Putin’s bad actors, and knows who those redacted phone numbers belong to.
The noose is tightening, and Schiff is kindly helping it along.
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