Adam Schiff : 'Absolutely' prepared to sue Trump administration if Mueller report not released
Adam Schiff said that his committee would subpoena special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report and even call him to testify before the committee if the report was not made public, and that he was “absolutely” prepared to sue the Trump administration, if necessary.
“We will obviously subpoena the report. We will bring Bob Mueller in to testify before Congress. We will take it to court if necessary,” Schiff, D-Calif. said Sunday.
“In the end I think the [Justice] Department understands they're going to have to make this public. I think [Attorney General William] Barr will ultimately understand that as well.”
See Also: Sen. Kamala Harris tells CNN's John King that we should want leaders who don't "engage in name-calling."
See Also: Sen. Kamala Harris tells CNN's John King that we should want leaders who don't "engage in name-calling."
ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos asked, “Are you prepared to take the administration to court?”
“Absolutely. We are going to get to the bottom of this. We are going to share this information with the public,” Schiff said. “And if the president is serious about all his claims of exoneration, then he should welcome the publication of this report.”
Here’s more via CNS News:
Even before Special Counsel Robert Mueller sends his Trump-Russia report to Attorney General William Barr, members of Congress are fighting to get a look at it.Leading the charge is Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the new chairman of the House intelligence committee, who insists that Mueller’s report be released not only to Congress but to the public, even though the rules governing special counsels don’t guarantee such a release.“Bill Barr has committed in his testimony to making as much of the report public as he can,” Schiff told ABC’s “This Week.” “And the regulations allow him to make it all (public). We’re going to insist on it becoming public.”And what if Barr doesn’t release the full report?Well, we will obviously subpoena the report, we will bring Bob Mueller in to testify before Congress, we will take it to court if necessary," Schiff said. "And in the end, I think the Department understands they're going to have to make this public. I think Barr will ultimately understand that as well.
Barr comes into this job with two strikes against him. He applied for the job by be demonstrating a bias against the Mueller investigation. Indeed that's part of the reason he was hired. He's also not been willing to commit to following the advice of the ethics lawyers. Indeed that was part of the reason he was hired.
If he were try to withhold, to try to bury any part of this report, that will be his legacy and it will be a tarnished legacy. So I think there'll be immense pressure not only on the department, but on the attorney general to be forthcoming.Schiff vowed that he will get to the bottom of the “collusion” he believes is evident: “We are going to share this information with the public, and if the president is serious about all of his claims of exoneration, then he should welcome the publication of this report.”
George Stephanopoulos went on to ask Schiff if has evidence of collusion with Russia, and of course he said there was plenty of evidence the campaign colluded.
But that isn’t true.
See Also: I went undercover at UCLA as a feminist named Jenna Talia and got students to sign a petition to put Trump supporters in concentration camps. Leftists are the REAL nazis.
See Also: I went undercover at UCLA as a feminist named Jenna Talia and got students to sign a petition to put Trump supporters in concentration camps. Leftists are the REAL nazis.
The Senate Intel Committee said they have zero evidence of collusion, but somehow Schiff has it all? C’mon. Schiff lies and conflates. That’s all this is.
As to the preemptive threats from Schiff, well it just goes to show you how ridiculous Democrats have become, that they would suggest that the new Attorney General would actually bury evidence of collusion or wrongdoing just to protect Trump.
Rep. Adam Schiff: Democrats could sue if Robert Mueller's Russia report isn't made public
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON – As speculation continues to mount over when special counsel Robert Mueller will finish his investigation, Democrats are planning a course of action if the findings of the probe aren't made public.
It's been nearly three years since federal investigators started investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential collusion by Donald Trump's campaign. And after filing charges against about three dozen people, things appear to be close to wrapping up.
But Democrats have grown increasingly skeptical over whether the results of the investigation will be made public and are ramping up a plan to make sure the public will see the results.
Rep. Adam Schiff, who heads the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC News on Sunday that he and other Democrats have a host of plans to fight for a full disclosure of the report.
"Well, we will obviously subpoena the report, we will bring Bob Mueller in to testify before Congress, we will take it to court if necessary," the California Democrat told host George Stephanopoulos. "In the end, I think the department understands that they're going to have to make this public."
Schiff said he and other Democrats would push not just to release Mueller's report, which would be filed confidentially to the attorney general, and explain his office's rationale on whether or not to prosecute individuals. But lawmakers would also seek to make public the "underlying evidence" attached to the investigation.
That evidence would include information compiled throughout the probe that didn't necessarily lead to criminal charges that could be proved in a court of law.
"We can't tell the country fully what happened without it," Schiff said.
Stephanopoulos pointed out that under Justice Department policy, the department normally does not release information in its investigations that don't lead to criminal charges.
But Schiff argued the department set a new "precedent" with commenting and releasing a slew of records in the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
"This was a new precedent that they were setting and they were going to have to live by this precedent whether it was a Congress controlled by the Democrats or Republicans, so they're going to have to abide by that," Schiff said.
Last month, then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said the inquiry was “close to being completed." It was the first time anyone familiar with its inner workings had offered even a hint in public of its likely trajectory. He did not elaborate.
New Attorney General William Barr told senators during his confirmation hearings that he would make public as much as possible about Mueller's report. Several Democratic senators questioned why the entire report – other than confidential investigative material – wouldn’t be made public.
Meanwhile, Trump’s legal team has been bracing for the delivery of the report. Lead attorney Rudy Giuliani told USA TODAY on Thursday that "we expect something in the next two weeks."
Giuliani told USA TODAY that it's been “weeks” since Mueller’s team has contacted the president’s attorneys, and there has been no further discussion about obtaining additional testimony from the president for about a month.
He said the extended period of “silence” has the president’s lawyers preparing for Mueller’s required notification to Barr that the special counsel’s work has been completed.
On whether the report should be made public, President Trump said the decision was "totally up to" Barr.