U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff needs to invoke a four-letter utterance made famous by a Trump Cabinet official who once ran for president of the United States.
Oops! That’s what Energy Secretary Rick Perry said when he couldn’t think of the third agency he would shut down were he elected president in 2012.
Well, Chairman Schiff is now eating his words in an “oops” moment.
He said that he knew of “more than circumstantial evidence” that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign colluded with Russians who attacked our electoral system in 2016.
Except that special counsel Robert Mueller disagreed with Schiff. He filed his report over the weekend and concluded that he didn’t have enough to charge the Trump team with collusion.
House and Senate Republicans are steamed at Schiff. They say he owes Trump and apology. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has demanded that his fellow Californian resign from his Intel Committee chairmanship, if not from the House altogether.
That is an overreach. Perhaps he could apologize whenever the president says he’s sorry for fomenting lies about Barack Obama’s birth, or for mocking the New York Times reporter’s disability, or for saying the late John McCain was a “war hero only because he was captured” during the Vietnam War.
Schiff is standing behind his belief that there’s more to learn about collusion, although he said he accepts Mueller’s judgment.
The Intelligence Committee chairman needs to stand down on this collusion matter. Robert Mueller looked high and low for criminal behavior. He didn’t find it. I get that Schiff is unhappy with the result; so are many millions of other Americans . . . me included.
But that’s what we got.
As for the obstruction of justice matter, Mueller was decidedly non-committal.
Perhaps, though, Chairman Schiff ought to just say “oops!” and go on to the next thing, whatever it is.
As Elizabeth Warren said (and I paraphrase) as long as we’re not allowed to read the entire report, we are going to be asking what is in it that they are hiding from us. The House is conducting its own investigation. I agree with Schiff that in the interest of having a complete and thorough investigation, there should be no need to duplicate the parts that Mueller has already covered. It a waste of taxpayer’s money. Plus, I’m pretty sure Barr is a toady.
After two years, and millions upon millions of hard-earned tax dollars spent investigating these allegations, Mueller has issued a report to the AG office, brought charges against several persons who were somewhat associated w/ the Trump Presidential campaign, and nothing close to finding evidence of collusion w/ Russians. I believe the American people know what has really happened; senior Justice Dept, Obama dept. heads, and State dept. associates colluded to spy on, and to attempt to subvert Donald Trump as both a candidate and as President! If there is to be any more investigation, let’s find out just WHOM leaked the “Trump Dossier”, lied to FISA court judges to get court ordered surveillance on Trump campaign members, lied to Congressional investigators about knowing how and when this surveillance began, and committed High Treason against the United States of America!