On Wednesday, The Washington Times reported that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) refused to answer direct questions about the individual responsible for filing a whistleblower complaint against Donald Trump that formed the basis of the entire impeachment process.
“There is an effort to insinuate wrongdoing on the part of the whistleblower,” the California congressman was quoted as saying in response to attempts by Senate Republicans to learn more about what he knew about the individual at the heart of the accusations against the president.
Schiff “trying to bury” information
Schiff has also declined to release a transcript of the testimony of Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who was one of the witnesses who testified during the House phase of impeachment.
Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) is among those who are not happy about that decision, something he explained to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo during an interview on Sunday Morning Futures.
“The House managers kept putting up charts talking about the 17 witnesses,” Ratcliffe noted. “But there were 18…I was there. It’s the one transcript out of 18 that hasn’t been released. It’s a 179-page transcript.”
Further, the Texas Republican is convinced that he knows the reason why Schiff has not made that material available.
“It’s the one transcript that talks about Adam Schiff and the whistleblower,” Ratcliff explained. “Now, everyone knows by now that Adam Schiff was not truthful about his contacts with the whistleblower.”
“What they don’t know,” he continued, “and what’s in that transcript is that the whistleblower wasn’t truthful about his contacts with Adam Schiff.”
“This whole thing started, Maria, when the whistleblower filed a complaint with the inspector general under penalty of perjury that wasn’t true and correct, made representations in writing and verbally that weren’t true and correct,” Ratcliffe argued.
“And when we found that out and tried to get into the details of that, Adam Schiff, who was in charge of this investigation, shut it down, and now he’s trying to bury that transcript,” he concluded.
Pervasive dishonesty
Ratcliffe isn’t the only one to question Schiff’s veracity at various points in time during the course of the impeachment charade. Although the House Intelligence Committee chairman has consistently denied knowing the wistleblower’s identity, The New York Times reported as far back as October that Schiff’s office was in communication with him before the complaint at issue was even filed.
“The whistleblower gave an early account of allegations against President Trump to a House aide who outlined it to Rep. Adam Schiff, who is now leading the impeachment inquiry,” the paper tweeted, casting serious doubt on the entire premise of the Democrats’ crusade to oust Trump.
No comments: