OAN’s Daniel Baldwin
2:35 PM – Thursday, May 18, 2023
Democrat Congressman Adam Schiff stuck to his story.
Advertisement
“This was an investigation that started in a flawed manner. It was conducted in a flawed manner, and its conclusion is a flawed conclusion,” said Schiff.
The former House intelligence chairman was referring to the 306-page Durham report. The long-awaited report from Special Counsel John Durham decisively concluded that “neither U.S. law enforcement nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.”
Schiff has an ulterior motive for casting doubt on Durham’s findings, as he was a key player in pushing the Russia-Russia hoax for numerous years.
“We do know this,” Schiff told CNN in 2017. “The Russians offered help. The [Trump] campaign accepted help. The Russians gave help, and the president made full use of that help. And that is pretty damning.”
When asked by CBS’ “Face the Nation” in 2018 whether he believed there was any evidence of collusion, Schiff doubled down.
“Can you agree that there has been no evidence of collusion, coordination or conspiracy that has been presented thus far between the Trump campaign and Russia,” asked the CBS anchor. “No, I don’t agree with that at all,” responded Schiff. “I think there’s plenty of evidence of collusion or conspiracy in plain sight.”
At a press conference in March 2018, Democrats on the House intelligence committee pushed the collusion narrative yet again.
“There is significant evidence, much of it in the public domain on the issue of collusion,” claimed Schiff.
However, Durham’s report concluded that the FBI opened and investigated Crossfire Hurricane, the codename for the alleged Trump-Russia collusion case, based on “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence.” Durham even writes, “The objective facts show that the FBI’s handling of important aspects of the crossfire hurricane matter were seriously deficient.”
Despite this, Schiff still insisted there was plenty of evidence incriminating Trump and his team.
“There is circumstantial evidence certainly of collusion or coordination,” Schiff told CBS News in 2017. “There has been direct evidence of deception.”
Durham says the only evidence of deception came from both the Clinton campaign and the FBI. Some of Schiff’s claims relied on the now debunked Steele Dossier, which was a product of the Clinton campaign’s opposition research. According to Durham, this was designed “to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services.” Durham also revealed that “the record reviewed by the office demonstrated a rather clear predisposition on investigation of Trump.”
Shortly following the release of the Durham report, Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) introduced a resolution to expel Schiff from Congress due to these past claims.
“Schiff lied to the American people. He used his position on House intel to push a lie that cost American taxpayers millions of dollars,” Luna tweeted from her official account. “He is a dishonor to the House of Representatives.”
Durham summed it up in one sentence, saying the “FBI discounted or willfully ignored material information that did not support the narrative of a collusive relationship between Trump and Russia.”
It appears Schiff did the same.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts