Rep. Adam Schiff, a onetime cheerleader for Christopher Steele’s dossier, endorsed special counsel John Durham’s prosecution of dossier source Igor Danchenko, a dramatic reversal after spending years questioning the legitimacy of the investigation.
The California Democrat, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, pushed allegations of Trump-Russia collusion for years and touted the dossier, reading multiple baseless claims from it into the congressional record in March 2017.
Schiff was pressed on this during a recent appearance on The View when asked if he had any reflections on his role in promoting the dossier.
“Well, first of all, whoever lied to the FBI or lied to Christopher Steele should be prosecuted — and they are,” Schiff said. “And unlike in the Trump administration, if they are convicted, they should go to jail, not be pardoned … If people lied to the FBI, they should go to jail.”
Schiff added: “But at the beginning of the Russia investigation, I said that any allegations should be investigated. We couldn’t have known, for example, people were lying to Christopher Steele.”
A basic part of any intelligence analysis is determining whether sources are telling the truth, and Republicans have warned for years the dossier’s claims were false or disinformation.
DOJ AND FBI GAVE COVER TO STEELE SOURCE ACCUSED OF LYING
Schiff’s newfound enthusiasm for Durham’s prosecutions stands in stark contrast to repeated comments he made after Durham was selected by then-Attorney General William Barr in 2019.
Speaking at the National Press Club in June 2019, Schiff said: “This desire to provide cover for the president by investigating the investigators, this desire to give amplification to the counternarrative, ignore what the Russians did, ignore what the Russians may do in the next election, focus only on investigating the investigators.”
He attacked Durham’s investigation again in October 2019 following reports the inquiry had shifted into a “criminal” investigation.
“These reports, if true, raise profound new concerns that the Department of Justice under AG Barr has lost its independence and become a vehicle for President Trump’s political revenge,” he said.
Schiff was asked why he drew that conclusion during an appearance on ABC’s This Week with Martha Raddatz and said Barr was being used “to go after the president’s enemies.”
When asked why the congressman wouldn’t let the investigation run its course, he replied: “Well, first of all, we have an inspector general who is an independent body who is doing an investigation that’s near conclusion, so there’s been no public explanation for why this needs to be a criminal probe.”
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report in December 2019 that concluded the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation was filled with serious missteps and concealed exculpatory information from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court. FBI interviews showed Danchenko undercut the credibility of the dossier.
In July 2020, Schiff again criticized Durham’s inquiry.
“What we have not yet had full visibility on is not Barr’s use of the shield to protect corruption writ large of his boss, Donald Trump, but the sword,” Schiff said on the Talking Feds podcast. “How he may be using the power of the Justice Department through Durham or others to go after the president’s enemies. And in many respects, that is a far greater, more serious abuse of the power of the Justice Department than his use of the shield.”
Ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith admitted in August 2020 that he falsified a document during the bureau’s efforts to renew FISA surveillance authority against Carter Page, fraudulently editing a CIA email in 2017 to state that Page was “not a source” for the agency. Despite this admission, Schiff continued hammering Durham’s inquiry.
Schiff tweeted in September 2020 that the investigation was “political from the start” and sent Horowitz a letter requesting the watchdog open an investigation into issues related to Durham.
“You do see the bastardization of these intelligence products, censorship of them, the withholding of them, the pushing alternate theories, the pushing just outright false information,” Schiff said later that month. “And what’s dangerous about this, among other things, about the Durham investigation, the connection between the two, is those that do look into these issues risk being the subject of some other bogus counterinvestigation like the one that Bill Barr is doing right now.”
Schiff also criticized Barr’s elevation of Durham from federal prosecutor to special counsel, slamming it as “politically motivated”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
He strongly suggested that Biden’s attorney general should look into stopping Durham’s inquiry.
“The appointment is not consistent with the language of the statute that he’s relying on and can be rescinded, I think, by the next attorney general. I would presume the next attorney general will look to see if there is any merit to the work that John Durham is doing and make a rational decision about whether that should continue at any level,” Schiff said that month.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has allowed Durham to continue his investigation thus far. In September, Durham indicted Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann for allegedly lying to former FBI general counsel James Baker in September 2016. Danchenko was indicted in November for allegedly lying to the FBI throughout 2017 about the sources of claims that made their way into the dossier.
