House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff identified “at least six categories of materially false statements” made by Blackwater founder Erik Prince.
After teasing a criminal referral to the Justice Department earlier in the day, Schiff made it official Tuesday afternoon with a letter to Attorney General William Barr.
“Today, the House Permanent Select on Intelligence formally referred Erik Prince to the Department of Justice for consideration of a potential criminal prosecution for false testimony that Prince provided to the Committee in 2017 as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. political process,” Schiff, D-Calif., said in a statement. “The report of the Special Counsel strongly indicates that Prince’s testimony before the Committee was materially false.”
“The committee has identified at least six categories of materially false statements that Mr. Prince made during his testimony about his January 11, 2017 meeting in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive officer of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, as well as a subsequent meeting about Libya that Prince never mentioned to the Committee,” the statement added.
Schiff presented a side-by-side comparison of conflicting testimony Prince gave to the intelligence panel and to special counsel Robert Mueller.
Prince is a former Navy SEAL and is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Schiff said the “false statements hindered the Committee’s ability to fully understand and examine foreign efforts to undermine our political process and national security, develop appropriate legislative and policy remedies to counter future malign influence operations targeting campaigns and presidential transitions, and inform the American public, as appropriate.”
He asked that Barr “investigate whether there is sufficient admissible evidence to prove that Mr. Prince made materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and representations to Congress, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1001(a) and (c).”
During a Washington Post Live event earlier in the day, Schiff was asked if Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner also provided false testimony to the House Intelligence Committee. The Democrat was tight-lipped.
“I don’t want to comment on any others. We have reached the point of ripeness with Prince’s testimony that we feel it appropriate to refer it,” Schiff said. “I don’t want to comment on any others.”
