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Intel Committee Ranking Member Schiff Statement on Release of Transcript of Business Meeting on Nunes Memo

Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement after the transcript from HPSCI’s business meeting on the memo was published:

“Today’s release of the transcript of Monday’s Committee meeting leaves no doubt about what transpired:

“Over strong Minority objections, the Committee’s Majority took the extraordinary step on Monday of moving forward with public release of their flawed and misleading classified talking points – even though almost no Committee Members or staff had read the underlying material. In fact, the Majority specifically voted down a more prudent alternative I put forward – to postpone publication of the Majority’s talking points, in order to at least allow the FBI and the DOJ a meaningful opportunity to inform Members about the real risks to intelligence and law enforcement of that approach. 

“Committee Republicans, moreover, blocked the simultaneous release of a memorandum prepared by Committee Democrats, which exhaustively corrects the record and exposes the deep flaws and distortions in the Chairman Nunes document.  The transcript of the Committee’s business meeting is a revealing and disquieting look into the strategy of Committee Republicans and that of Chairman Nunes in particular as they seek to protect President Trump from the Special Counsel’s investigation and congressional probes. 

“Now the Majority’s document is with the White House. We know President Trump desires its release at the soonest opportunity for his political benefit, despite the fact that the FBI today underscored its ‘grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.’

“If the President nonetheless disregards the warnings of his law enforcement professionals and allows publication of the Nunes memo, we will have no choice but to demand the release of the Committee Minority’s response, after a review by the appropriate agencies. The American people deserve to learn the full truth.”


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