Washington, DC, Dec. 10, 2017 – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, appeared on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper to discuss Russian efforts to infiltrate the Trump Campaign, the ongoing Congressional Russia investigation and the Trump Administration’s efforts to discredit our democratic institutions.
During the interview, Schiff stated:
On the continued effort of the Russians to permeate Trump’s inner circle:
“This is part of a concerted Russian influence operation that never stopped. The only issue I took when James Comey testified that the Russians will be back, is that they never left, in terms of certain parts of their active measures campaign. But it is not at all a surprise that they would make outreach to people they thought would have influence in the administration and misrepresent who they were and what their agenda was.”
On the Russian effort to reach out to Hope Hicks:
“The Russian tradecraft is to try to find as many entrees as they can to make influence over foreign governments, so even though they had good contacts within the Administration, probably none better than Mike Flynn, they were seeking other avenues, other ways to exert influence.”
On the question of collusion:
“You have to look at the pattern and chronology. If you believe that these are all isolated incidents, not connected to each other, that just doesn’t make rational sense. But we do know this: The Russians offered help, the campaign accepted help, the Russians gave help, and the President made full use of that help. And that’s pretty damning whether it is proved beyond a reasonable doubt of conspiracy or not.
On Republicans claiming bias in Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation:
“Their intent here is nothing short of discrediting Mueller, then discrediting the Justice Department, then discrediting the FBI, then discrediting the Judiciary, should the Judiciary convict some of the people that Mueller has charged or may charge in the future. This is an effort to tear at the very idea that there is an objective truth. I think this president, in astonishing speed, has remade the Republican party in his own deeply flawed image. and that will be ruinous to the Republican party. But as we depend on a two-party system with two functional parties, it will also be deeply damaging to the country. The discrediting of our institutions, the justice system, the judiciary, the press, is enormously destructive.”
Watch the full interview here