House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said Sunday he supports House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s request for any briefings lawmakers receive on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report be unclassified.
“I think what the speaker is saying, and I completely agree, is do not think you can bury this report. Do not think you can bury the evidence in secret by briefing eight people in Congress and say, we’ve discharged our responsibility. That’s not going to cut it,” the California Democrat told ABC’s “This Week.”
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“It is essential that the report be made completely public. … We need to be able to see any evidence that this president or people around him may be compromised by a foreign power,” he continued.
Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote in a letter to members of the Democratic caucus on Saturday that she has insisted to Attorney General William Barr that any briefings to congressional committees be unclassified “so that members can speak freely about every aspect of the report and not be confined to what DOJ chooses to release publicly.”
Mueller delivered his report to Barr Friday afternoon, ending his 22-month-long investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.
Barr told lawmakers he may be able to provide them with the special counsel’s “principal conclusions” as early as this weekend. As of Sunday morning he had yet to do so.
The investigation netted the indictments of 34 people and three Russian companies, including six people close to Trump. Mueller is not expected to recommend any further indictments.
Despite the conclusion of Mueller’s investigation, congressional committees are still moving forward with their investigations into the matter.
Schiff said Sunday it’s Congress’ “duty to expose” Trump’s relationship with Russia and “take corrective action.”
“If it is this president’s view that he still wants to build that tower when he is out of office, that may further compromise his policy towards Putin, towards Russia,” he said, referring to negotiations during the campaign to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
[Related: Pelosi, Schumer demand ‘urgent’ public release of Mueller’s full report and underlying documents]
