In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union on Wednesday, Senator-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA) was asked whether he had reflected on the numerous Russia investigations, including the Mueller special counsel probe, and whether they may have influenced President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to appoint “disrupters” to his second Cabinet.
“I’m looking at these nominees: Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence, possibly Kash Patel to be head of the FBI, Gaetz at DOJ, RFK Jr. at HHS, and others. And, obviously, he is bringing a group of people to disrupt. I mean, that is what [House] Speaker [Mike] Johnson said,” Tapper began, though former Rep. Matt Gaetz, whom Trump nominated to be his attorney general, took his name out of contention on Thursday.
And I’m wondering about how much anybody in Washington is being introspective at all about why there is this kind of opening for disrupters if not necessarily these individuals,” Tapper continued. “You were censured in the House last year for, in their view, holding positions of power during the Trump presidency as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and, according to them — quote — ‘abusing this trust’ by saying there was evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
“And I wonder if you are feeling at all introspective at all about — that was, according to your — according to the Mueller report and according to your Republican colleagues, an overstatement. And I wonder if you think in any way you helped set the table for these disrupters?” Tapper asked.
Schiff proceeded to triple down on his false claims that Trump and Russia ‘colluded’ to steal the 2016 election.
You know, first of all, it wasn’t an overstatement. There is evidence of collusion. The Trump campaign manager was meeting with Russian intelligence and giving them internal polling data, just to give you one example. And the Mueller report sets all this out,” Schiff said.
Tapper interjected: “It does say — quote — ‘The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,’ which doesn’t mean that he didn’t — that there weren’t meetings, but they didn’t find evidence of it.”
