"CORN POP" BIDEN SOUNDS QUITE BELLICOSE HERE, CREATING A CRISIS OUT OF HOT AIR AND SMOKE …
IS "CORN POP" GOING TO GET US IN ANOTHER WAR HE CAN'T WIN?
MARKETWATCH
"Biden warns Russia and other countries that interference in 2020 election won’t go unpunished"
By Associated Press
Published: July 21, 2020 at 1:57 p.m. ET
By Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Monday that he is putting Russia and other foreign governments “on notice” that he would act aggressively as president to counter any interference in U.S. elections.
The statement came hours after Democratic leaders issued a new warning that Congress appears to be the target of a foreign interference campaign.
Biden said in a statement that he would treat foreign interference as “an adversarial act that significantly affects the relationship between the United States and the interfering nation’s government.”
He criticized President Donald Trump for not doing enough in response to U.S. intelligence agencies’ assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
“If any foreign power recklessly chooses to interfere in our democracy, I will not hesitate to respond as president to impose substantial and lasting costs,” Biden said.
The new alarms give a renewed urgency to concerns that foreign actors could be trying to influence the vote or sow disinformation.
Biden said last week that he had begun receiving intelligence briefings and warned that Russia, China and other adversaries were attempting to undermine the presidential election.
“We know from before, and I guarantee you I know now because now I get briefings again."
"The Russians are still engaged, trying to de-legitimize our electoral process."
"Fact,” Biden said Friday, not revealing details or evidence.
“China and others are engaged as well in activities designed for us to lose confidence in the outcome.”
During an online fundraiser Monday night, Biden added: “It’s going to be tough, there’s not much I can do about it now except talk about it, and expose it, but it is a serious concern."
"It is truly a violation of our sovereignty.”
And in an interview on MSNBC, Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin “knows I mean what I say.”
The Democratic leaders said in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday that they are concerned that Congress appears to be the target of a “concerted foreign interference campaign” to influence the 2020 presidential election.
They asked Wray for an all-members, classified briefing on the matter of election interference before the August recess.
The letter from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees contains no details about the threats, though they describe them as serious and specific.
“We are gravely concerned, in particular, that Congress appears to be the target of a concerted foreign interference campaign, which seeks to launder and amplify disinformation in order to influence congressional activity, public debate, and the presidential election in November,” wrote Pelosi, Schumer, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence panel.
A congressional official familiar with the letter said that there was a classified addendum “to ensure a clear and unambiguous record of the counterintelligence threats of concern.”
The person, who was granted anonymity to describe the confidential letter, said the addendum largely draws from the executive branch’s own reporting and analysis.
The FBI said it had received the letter but declined to provide further comment.
While the Democrats’ exact concerns were unclear, there have been worries since Trump was elected that Russia’s efforts to sow American chaos are ongoing in the 2020 election.
The 2016 effort included hacking of Democratic email accounts during the campaign by Russian military intelligence officials and the subsequent disclosure by WikiLeaks.
Intelligence authorities said that hack-and-leak operation was aimed at helping Trump’s presidential campaign and harming that of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Russians also used a covert social media campaign to spread misinformation and posts aimed at dividing American public opinion.
In the end, former special counsel Robert Mueller charged 25 Russian nationals for their roles in foreign interference and influence during the campaign.
Democrats, including members of the Senate intelligence panel, have voiced concerns that an ongoing Republican probe into Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and his work in Ukraine would amplify Russian disinformation.
That probe is being led by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis.
Frank Figliuzzi, former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, suggested in a tweet that a subtext of the Democrats’ request is that they believe Russia to be supplying the GOP with Biden disinformation.
In a statement, Johnson spokesman Austin Altenburg said the committee’s staff had already requested and received a briefing on Russian disinformation and Johnson had requested an additional briefing at the member level.
While Biden criticized Trump for not acting aggressively against Russia, his pledge that his intelligence community would report “publicly and in a timely manner” on any foreign efforts to interfere in an American election also appeared to be a course correction of sorts to the approach of the Obama administration, which waited months after Russian hacks of Democratic email accounts in 2016 to officially attribute them to Moscow.
Officials did so only after a rigorous internal debate over what they should say.
Even when the administration did issue its October 2016 statement blaming Russia for the hacks, it did not mention Putin by name nor an ongoing effort to determine whether the Kremlin’s election interference efforts were being coordinated with the Trump campaign.
Democrats were reported to be wary of risking an appearance of politicizing intelligence in a way that could be perceived as assisting the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.
An effort to put out a bipartisan statement on the matter was reportedly blocked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who a year ago blocked consideration in the Republican-led chamber of a House-passed bill to bolster election security, calling it unnecessary.
More recently, Senate Republicans were reported to have stripped from the National Defense Authorization Act, as a condition of the legislation’s passage, a provision requiring presidential campaigns to report any attempts by foreign entities to involve themselves in a U.S. election.
Clinton, who would go on to lose the 2016 presidential election to Trump, said Monday she was “glad” Biden was speaking up.
“It’s very clear that Russia succeeded,” she told MSNBC.
“They believed that they were able to influence the minds and even the votes of Americans, so why would they stop?”
MarketWatch and other news services contributed.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/biden ... latestnews
ADAM SCHIFF
Re: ADAM SCHIFF
CNN
"Biden officially recognizes the massacre of Armenians in World War I as a genocide"
By Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 7:39 PM ET, Sat April 24, 2021
(CNN) - President Joe Biden on Saturday became the first US president to officially recognize the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, risking a potential fracture with Turkey but signaling a commitment to global human rights.
In a statement marking the 106th anniversary of the massacre's start, Biden wrote, "Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring."
"Today, as we mourn what was lost, let us also turn our eyes to the future -- toward the world that we wish to build for our children."
"A world unstained by the daily evils of bigotry and intolerance, where human rights are respected, and where all people are able to pursue their lives in dignity and security," Biden said.
"Let us renew our shared resolve to prevent future atrocities from occurring anywhere in the world."
"And let us pursue healing and reconciliation for all the people of the world."
]The move fulfills Biden's campaign pledge to finally use the word genocide to describe the systematic killing and deportation of Armenians in what is now Turkey more than a century ago.
Biden's predecessors in the White House had stopped short of using the word, wary of damaging ties with a key regional ally.
Earlier this week, US officials had been sending signals to allies outside the administration -- who have been pushing for an official declaration -- that the President would recognize the genocide.
Addressing the potential move in an interview with a Turkish broadcaster this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, "If the United States wants to worsen ties, the decision is theirs."
Cavusoglu on Saturday said Ankara completely rejects Biden's use of the term.
"We are not going to take lessons about our history from anyone."
"Political opportunism is the biggest betrayal of peace and justice."
"We completely reject this statement that is only based on populism," he said in a tweet.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday offered condolences to "Ottoman Armenians, who lost their lives under the difficult circumstances of World War I."
That message to Patriarch of Turkish Armenians Sahak Mashalian echoed Erdoğan's previous statements on April 24 and came before Biden's declaration.
Turkish Presidency communications director Fahrettin Altun later Saturday said that "the Biden administration's decision to misportray history out with an eye on domestic political calculations is a true misfortune for Turkey-U.S. relations."
Turkey later summoned David M. Satterfield, the US ambassador to the country, following the announcement, according to Turkish state media Anadolu.
"Turkey's strong reaction was conveyed to David Satterfield, who was accepted by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal, according to diplomatic sources," Anadolu reported.
"Satterfield was told that Turkey finds the statement unacceptable, totally rejects and strongly condemns it."
The government of Turkey often registers complaints when foreign governments describe the event, which began in 1915, using the word "genocide."
They maintain that it was wartime and there were losses on both sides, and they put the number of dead Armenians at 300,000.
Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump both avoided using the word genocide to avoid angering Ankara.
But Biden has determined that relations with Turkey and Erdoğan -- which have deteriorated over the past several years anyway -- should not prevent the use of a term that would validate the plight of Armenians more than a century ago and signal a commitment to human rights today.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan welcomed Biden's statement as such, tweeting that "the US has once again demonstrated its unwavering commitment to protecting human rights and universal values."
The declaration will not bring with it any new legal consequences for Turkey, only diplomatic fallout.
As vice president, Biden dealt frequently with Erdoğan and made four trips to Turkey, including in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt.
But since then he's offered a less-than-rosy view of the Turkish leader.
"I've spent a lot of time with him."
"He is an autocrat," he told the New York Times editorial board in 2020.
"He's the President of Turkey and a lot more."
"What I think we should be doing is taking a very different approach to him now, making it clear that we support opposition leadership."
Biden spoke by telephone with Erdoğan on Friday, his first conversation with the Turkish leader since taking office.
The long period without communication had been interpreted as a sign Biden is placing less importance on the US relationship with Turkey going forward.
The two men agreed to meet in person on the sidelines of a mid-June NATO summit in Brussels.
The White House said Biden conveyed "his interest in a constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective management of disagreements," but the readout did not mention the Armenian genocide issue.
The campaign of atrocities Biden is acknowledging began the nights of April 23 and 24, 1915, when authorities in Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, rounded up about 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders.
Many of them ended up deported or assassinated.
April 24, known as Red Sunday, is commemorated as Genocide Remembrance Day by Armenians around the world.
The number of Armenians killed has been a major point of contention.
Estimates range from 300,000 to 2 million deaths between 1914 and 1923, with not all of the victims in the Ottoman Empire.
But most estimates -- including one of 800,000 between 1915 and 1918, made by Ottoman authorities themselves -- fall between 600,000 and 1.5 million.
Whether due to killings or forced deportation, the number of Armenians living in Turkey fell from 2 million in 1914 to under 400,000 by 1922.
While the death toll is in dispute, photographs from the era document some mass killings.
Some show Ottoman soldiers posing with severed heads, others with them standing amid skulls in the dirt.
The victims are reported to have died in mass burnings and by drowning, torture, gas, poison, disease and starvation.
Children were reported to have been loaded into boats, taken out to sea and thrown overboard.
Rape, too, was frequently reported.
As a candidate, Biden said that if he were elected, "I pledge to support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority for my administration."
Similar pledges have gone unfulfilled before.
When Obama was running for president, he declared in a lengthy statement that he shared "with Armenian Americans -- so many of whom are descended from genocide survivor -- a principled commitment to commemorating and ending genocide."
But like presidents before him, the realities of diplomacy intervened once he took office.
In all eight years of his presidency, Obama avoided using "genocide" when commemorating the April event.
With Turkey then positioned as a key partner in the fight against ISIS terrorists, the issue appeared even less palatable.
Some officials who served in Obama's administration, including his deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes and then-US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, later voiced regret at not having taken the step.
Power is Biden's nominee to lead the US Agency for International Development.
In 2019, the House and Senate passed a resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians from 1915 to 1923 as genocide.
Prior to its passage, the Trump administration had asked Republican senators to block the unanimous consent request several times on the grounds that it could undercut negotiations with Turkey.
Trump attempted to cultivate a friendship with Erdoğan, even as relations between Washington and Ankara soured over Turkey's purchase of a Russian-made air defense system and alleged human rights abuses by Turkish-backed forces in Syria.
A group of more than 100 Republican and Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to Biden this month calling on him to formally recognize the Armenian genocide.
The group was led by Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat.
A large Armenian American community resides in and around Schiff's district in Los Angeles.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Saturday that "our hearts are full of joy that President Biden has taken the historic step of joining Congress with formal recognition on Armenian Genocide Day."
"To commemorate this solemn day of remembrance, let us pledge to always stand strong against hatred and violence wherever we see it and recommit to building a future of hope, peace and freedom for all the world's children."
This story has been updated with additional details Saturday.
CNN's Gul Tuysuz in Istanbul, Larry Register in Atlanta and Daniella Diaz, Donald Judd and Jasmine Wright in Washington contributed to this report.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/24/politics ... index.html
"Biden officially recognizes the massacre of Armenians in World War I as a genocide"
By Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 7:39 PM ET, Sat April 24, 2021
(CNN) - President Joe Biden on Saturday became the first US president to officially recognize the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, risking a potential fracture with Turkey but signaling a commitment to global human rights.
In a statement marking the 106th anniversary of the massacre's start, Biden wrote, "Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring."
"Today, as we mourn what was lost, let us also turn our eyes to the future -- toward the world that we wish to build for our children."
"A world unstained by the daily evils of bigotry and intolerance, where human rights are respected, and where all people are able to pursue their lives in dignity and security," Biden said.
"Let us renew our shared resolve to prevent future atrocities from occurring anywhere in the world."
"And let us pursue healing and reconciliation for all the people of the world."
]The move fulfills Biden's campaign pledge to finally use the word genocide to describe the systematic killing and deportation of Armenians in what is now Turkey more than a century ago.
Biden's predecessors in the White House had stopped short of using the word, wary of damaging ties with a key regional ally.
Earlier this week, US officials had been sending signals to allies outside the administration -- who have been pushing for an official declaration -- that the President would recognize the genocide.
Addressing the potential move in an interview with a Turkish broadcaster this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, "If the United States wants to worsen ties, the decision is theirs."
Cavusoglu on Saturday said Ankara completely rejects Biden's use of the term.
"We are not going to take lessons about our history from anyone."
"Political opportunism is the biggest betrayal of peace and justice."
"We completely reject this statement that is only based on populism," he said in a tweet.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday offered condolences to "Ottoman Armenians, who lost their lives under the difficult circumstances of World War I."
That message to Patriarch of Turkish Armenians Sahak Mashalian echoed Erdoğan's previous statements on April 24 and came before Biden's declaration.
Turkish Presidency communications director Fahrettin Altun later Saturday said that "the Biden administration's decision to misportray history out with an eye on domestic political calculations is a true misfortune for Turkey-U.S. relations."
Turkey later summoned David M. Satterfield, the US ambassador to the country, following the announcement, according to Turkish state media Anadolu.
"Turkey's strong reaction was conveyed to David Satterfield, who was accepted by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal, according to diplomatic sources," Anadolu reported.
"Satterfield was told that Turkey finds the statement unacceptable, totally rejects and strongly condemns it."
The government of Turkey often registers complaints when foreign governments describe the event, which began in 1915, using the word "genocide."
They maintain that it was wartime and there were losses on both sides, and they put the number of dead Armenians at 300,000.
Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump both avoided using the word genocide to avoid angering Ankara.
But Biden has determined that relations with Turkey and Erdoğan -- which have deteriorated over the past several years anyway -- should not prevent the use of a term that would validate the plight of Armenians more than a century ago and signal a commitment to human rights today.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan welcomed Biden's statement as such, tweeting that "the US has once again demonstrated its unwavering commitment to protecting human rights and universal values."
The declaration will not bring with it any new legal consequences for Turkey, only diplomatic fallout.
As vice president, Biden dealt frequently with Erdoğan and made four trips to Turkey, including in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt.
But since then he's offered a less-than-rosy view of the Turkish leader.
"I've spent a lot of time with him."
"He is an autocrat," he told the New York Times editorial board in 2020.
"He's the President of Turkey and a lot more."
"What I think we should be doing is taking a very different approach to him now, making it clear that we support opposition leadership."
Biden spoke by telephone with Erdoğan on Friday, his first conversation with the Turkish leader since taking office.
The long period without communication had been interpreted as a sign Biden is placing less importance on the US relationship with Turkey going forward.
The two men agreed to meet in person on the sidelines of a mid-June NATO summit in Brussels.
The White House said Biden conveyed "his interest in a constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective management of disagreements," but the readout did not mention the Armenian genocide issue.
The campaign of atrocities Biden is acknowledging began the nights of April 23 and 24, 1915, when authorities in Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, rounded up about 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders.
Many of them ended up deported or assassinated.
April 24, known as Red Sunday, is commemorated as Genocide Remembrance Day by Armenians around the world.
The number of Armenians killed has been a major point of contention.
Estimates range from 300,000 to 2 million deaths between 1914 and 1923, with not all of the victims in the Ottoman Empire.
But most estimates -- including one of 800,000 between 1915 and 1918, made by Ottoman authorities themselves -- fall between 600,000 and 1.5 million.
Whether due to killings or forced deportation, the number of Armenians living in Turkey fell from 2 million in 1914 to under 400,000 by 1922.
While the death toll is in dispute, photographs from the era document some mass killings.
Some show Ottoman soldiers posing with severed heads, others with them standing amid skulls in the dirt.
The victims are reported to have died in mass burnings and by drowning, torture, gas, poison, disease and starvation.
Children were reported to have been loaded into boats, taken out to sea and thrown overboard.
Rape, too, was frequently reported.
As a candidate, Biden said that if he were elected, "I pledge to support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority for my administration."
Similar pledges have gone unfulfilled before.
When Obama was running for president, he declared in a lengthy statement that he shared "with Armenian Americans -- so many of whom are descended from genocide survivor -- a principled commitment to commemorating and ending genocide."
But like presidents before him, the realities of diplomacy intervened once he took office.
In all eight years of his presidency, Obama avoided using "genocide" when commemorating the April event.
With Turkey then positioned as a key partner in the fight against ISIS terrorists, the issue appeared even less palatable.
Some officials who served in Obama's administration, including his deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes and then-US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, later voiced regret at not having taken the step.
Power is Biden's nominee to lead the US Agency for International Development.
In 2019, the House and Senate passed a resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians from 1915 to 1923 as genocide.
Prior to its passage, the Trump administration had asked Republican senators to block the unanimous consent request several times on the grounds that it could undercut negotiations with Turkey.
Trump attempted to cultivate a friendship with Erdoğan, even as relations between Washington and Ankara soured over Turkey's purchase of a Russian-made air defense system and alleged human rights abuses by Turkish-backed forces in Syria.
A group of more than 100 Republican and Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to Biden this month calling on him to formally recognize the Armenian genocide.
The group was led by Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat.
A large Armenian American community resides in and around Schiff's district in Los Angeles.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Saturday that "our hearts are full of joy that President Biden has taken the historic step of joining Congress with formal recognition on Armenian Genocide Day."
"To commemorate this solemn day of remembrance, let us pledge to always stand strong against hatred and violence wherever we see it and recommit to building a future of hope, peace and freedom for all the world's children."
This story has been updated with additional details Saturday.
CNN's Gul Tuysuz in Istanbul, Larry Register in Atlanta and Daniella Diaz, Donald Judd and Jasmine Wright in Washington contributed to this report.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/24/politics ... index.html
Re: ADAM SCHIFF
THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"McCarthy blames Schiff for focusing on impeachment over Afghanistan intelligence"
Emily Brooks
26 AUGUST 2021
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy took aim at House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff for creating a “failure” by focusing on impeachment investigations against former President Donald Trump rather than on providing oversight on intelligence about the Taliban's influence in Afghanistan.
“We should have been having hearings on what's going on over there."
"We should have been able to gather that they would collapse this fast."
"But Adam Schiff was too focused on impeachment than doing the job he was supposed to do,” McCarthy, a California Republican, said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Schiff, a Democrat, also from California, became the face of the first impeachment effort against Trump as head of the Intelligence Committee, despite the House Judiciary Committee traditionally taking the leading role in impeachment proceedings.
“How much time did Adam Schiff spend looking around the world of what his responsibility is?” McCarthy said.
“When you're on the Intel Committee, you learn things that other members do not know."
"But he spent all this time on politics.”
McCarthy added that he would look at what “failure he created, too.”
A top concern of lawmakers in light of the U.S. being surprised by a swift Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as U.S. troops pulled out of the country is the quality of intelligence.
After a classified Intelligence Committee briefing on Monday, Schiff relayed in general terms what the intelligence agencies knew about the situation in Afghanistan leading up to the collapse.
"Intelligence agencies’ assessments of the Afghan government's ability to maintain itself became increasingly pessimistic over the course of the last six months,” Schiff said.
“There were any number of warnings that the Taliban might take over, and some that included a potential of a very rapid takeover,” Schiff said, but added no one predicted such a rapid collapse.
McCarthy said that if Republicans win back the House in 2022 and he becomes speaker, he would task House committees with evaluating what led to the situation in Afghanistan rather than creating some sort of select committee solely focused on the issue.
"We have people who have such expertise, were on the ground,” McCarthy said.
“I would take it through all committees, from Armed Services to Foreign Affairs to Intel."
"And I would change the Intel Committee back to the purpose of what their responsibility was.”
“They have a responsibility of overseeing the agencies."
"But what did they do?"
"They turned it to look within."
"They spent it as a political arm,” McCarthy said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... hp&pc=U531
"McCarthy blames Schiff for focusing on impeachment over Afghanistan intelligence"
Emily Brooks
26 AUGUST 2021
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy took aim at House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff for creating a “failure” by focusing on impeachment investigations against former President Donald Trump rather than on providing oversight on intelligence about the Taliban's influence in Afghanistan.
“We should have been having hearings on what's going on over there."
"We should have been able to gather that they would collapse this fast."
"But Adam Schiff was too focused on impeachment than doing the job he was supposed to do,” McCarthy, a California Republican, said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Schiff, a Democrat, also from California, became the face of the first impeachment effort against Trump as head of the Intelligence Committee, despite the House Judiciary Committee traditionally taking the leading role in impeachment proceedings.
“How much time did Adam Schiff spend looking around the world of what his responsibility is?” McCarthy said.
“When you're on the Intel Committee, you learn things that other members do not know."
"But he spent all this time on politics.”
McCarthy added that he would look at what “failure he created, too.”
A top concern of lawmakers in light of the U.S. being surprised by a swift Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as U.S. troops pulled out of the country is the quality of intelligence.
After a classified Intelligence Committee briefing on Monday, Schiff relayed in general terms what the intelligence agencies knew about the situation in Afghanistan leading up to the collapse.
"Intelligence agencies’ assessments of the Afghan government's ability to maintain itself became increasingly pessimistic over the course of the last six months,” Schiff said.
“There were any number of warnings that the Taliban might take over, and some that included a potential of a very rapid takeover,” Schiff said, but added no one predicted such a rapid collapse.
McCarthy said that if Republicans win back the House in 2022 and he becomes speaker, he would task House committees with evaluating what led to the situation in Afghanistan rather than creating some sort of select committee solely focused on the issue.
"We have people who have such expertise, were on the ground,” McCarthy said.
“I would take it through all committees, from Armed Services to Foreign Affairs to Intel."
"And I would change the Intel Committee back to the purpose of what their responsibility was.”
“They have a responsibility of overseeing the agencies."
"But what did they do?"
"They turned it to look within."
"They spent it as a political arm,” McCarthy said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... hp&pc=U531
Re: ADAM SCHIFF
CNN
"US military admits it killed 10 civilians and targeted wrong vehicle in Kabul airstrike"
By Anna Coren, Julia Hollingsworth, Sandi Sidhu and Zachary Cohen, CNN
Updated 5:26 PM ET, Fri September 17, 2021
(CNN) - A United States military investigation into a deadly Kabul drone strike on a vehicle in August has found it killed 10 civilians and the driver and that the vehicle targeted was likely not a threat associated with ISIS-K, announced Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command, at the Pentagon on Friday.
McKenzie told reporters that the strike -- which he said killed seven children -- was a "mistake" and offered an apology.
"This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology," he said.
McKenzie added that he is "fully responsible for this strike and this tragic outcome."
The Pentagon's announcement will likely fuel more criticism of the Biden administration's chaotic evacuation of Kabul and handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan more broadly.
While McKenzie stressed Friday that future strikes will likely be held to a higher standard, confirmation of the civilian death toll also provides insight into the obstacles ahead for military and intelligence officials tasked with fulfilling President Joe Biden's promise to make the terror group "pay" for its deadly suicide attack in Kabul.
The Pentagon had maintained that at least one ISIS-K facilitator and three civilians were killed in what Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley had previously called a "righteous strike" on the compound on August 29.
The investigation released Friday found that all of those killed in the residential compound were civilians.
In the lead up to the strike, drone operators surveilled the courtyard for up to 4 to 5 minutes.
In that time, a male driver left the vehicle.
One child was parking the vehicle and other children were present in the car and the courtyard -- as CNN had been told by the Ahmadi family.
The military based the strike on a reasonable certainty standard to launch the strike on the vehicle.
Tragically, it was the wrong vehicle, a US military official familiar with the investigation told CNN earlier Friday, adding that reasonable certainty is not 100% certainty.
"We didn't take the strike because we thought we were wrong -- we took the strike because we thought we had a good target," McKenzie said.
While he acknowledged that the strike "was a terrible mistake," he said he would "not qualify the entire operation" as a failure.
Asked by a reporter to explain how the "complete and utter failure" could have occurred, McKenzie said, "While I agree that this strike certainly did not come up to our standards and I profoundly regret it, I would not qualify the entire operation in those terms."
Previously, US Central Command pointed to "significant secondary explosions" as evidence of a "substantial amount of explosive material" in the vehicle.
On Friday, the US military source said that after reviewing footage from infra-red sensors, they would no longer characterize this as an explosion -- instead, it was more of a flare up.
The US official said that in the time leading up to the strike, the US had at least 60 different intelligence reports about threat streams toward US forces at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
A US official with direct knowledge of the standards for a strike of this nature told CNN earlier this month that 10 civilian deaths is an "astronomically high" number and the military would have conducted collateral damage estimates beforehand, meaning commanders were aware that there was a potential for civilian casualties.
"Had we cooperation with any local partner, we would have never fired a missile at the vehicle but tried to get to the drivers before they got in the car," one former intelligence official with knowledge of how these strikes are carried out previously told CNN.
"That assumes we had intel on the car as opposed to the people, and maybe after it was already in route, which leaves far fewer options."
Response to the findings
Biden was briefed on the details of the investigation on Friday morning, an official said.
In a speech last month, the President hailed the strike as an example of the US ability to target ISIS-K.
The White House has not yet commented on the investigation's findings.
On Friday, Milley released a statement on the strike calling it "a horrible tragedy."
"In a dynamic high-threat environment, the commanders on the ground had appropriate authority and had reasonable certainty that the target was valid, but after deeper post-strike analysis, our conclusion is that innocent civilians were killed," Milley said in a statement.
"This is a horrible tragedy of war and its [sic] heart wrenching and we are committed to being fully transparent about this incident," he added.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also apologized for the strike in a statement on Friday, and offered condolences to the family of Zamarai Ahmadi, the driver of the car targeted in the strike.
"We now know that there was no connection between Mr. Ahmadi and ISIS-Khorasan, that his activities on that day were completely harmless and not at all related to the imminent threat we believed we faced, and that Mr. Ahmadi was just as innocent a victim as were the others tragically killed," he said.
Austin said he is directing a "thorough review" of the investigation conducted by Central Command and the information that led the US military to conduct it.
Austin said the military, when it has reason to believe it has taken innocent life, "investigate it and, if true, we admit it."
"But we also must work just as hard to prevent recurrence -- no matter the circumstances, the intelligence stream or the operational pressures under which we labor," he added.
"We will do that in this case."
Human rights group, Amnesty International said Friday's admission was an an "important step toward accountability" but added that Washington needs to take more steps, including paying reparations to family members and survivors of the strike.
"The US must now commit to a full, transparent, and impartial investigation into this incident."
"Anyone suspected of criminal responsibility should be prosecuted in a fair trial," said Brian Castner, a senior crisis adviser with Amnesty International's Crisis Response Program.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said in a statement Friday that "after such a devastating failure - one that, by the Department's estimate, killed 10 civilians, at least 7 of them children - it cannot be the last step."
"We need to know what went wrong in the hours and minutes leading up to the strike to prevent similar tragedies in the future," the California Democrat said, adding that his committee "will continue to press for answers."
This story has been updated with further developments.
CNN's Katie Bo Williams, Oren Liebermann, Ellie Kaufman, Jennifer Hansler and Michael Conte contributed to this report.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/17/politics ... index.html
"US military admits it killed 10 civilians and targeted wrong vehicle in Kabul airstrike"
By Anna Coren, Julia Hollingsworth, Sandi Sidhu and Zachary Cohen, CNN
Updated 5:26 PM ET, Fri September 17, 2021
(CNN) - A United States military investigation into a deadly Kabul drone strike on a vehicle in August has found it killed 10 civilians and the driver and that the vehicle targeted was likely not a threat associated with ISIS-K, announced Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command, at the Pentagon on Friday.
McKenzie told reporters that the strike -- which he said killed seven children -- was a "mistake" and offered an apology.
"This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology," he said.
McKenzie added that he is "fully responsible for this strike and this tragic outcome."
The Pentagon's announcement will likely fuel more criticism of the Biden administration's chaotic evacuation of Kabul and handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan more broadly.
While McKenzie stressed Friday that future strikes will likely be held to a higher standard, confirmation of the civilian death toll also provides insight into the obstacles ahead for military and intelligence officials tasked with fulfilling President Joe Biden's promise to make the terror group "pay" for its deadly suicide attack in Kabul.
The Pentagon had maintained that at least one ISIS-K facilitator and three civilians were killed in what Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley had previously called a "righteous strike" on the compound on August 29.
The investigation released Friday found that all of those killed in the residential compound were civilians.
In the lead up to the strike, drone operators surveilled the courtyard for up to 4 to 5 minutes.
In that time, a male driver left the vehicle.
One child was parking the vehicle and other children were present in the car and the courtyard -- as CNN had been told by the Ahmadi family.
The military based the strike on a reasonable certainty standard to launch the strike on the vehicle.
Tragically, it was the wrong vehicle, a US military official familiar with the investigation told CNN earlier Friday, adding that reasonable certainty is not 100% certainty.
"We didn't take the strike because we thought we were wrong -- we took the strike because we thought we had a good target," McKenzie said.
While he acknowledged that the strike "was a terrible mistake," he said he would "not qualify the entire operation" as a failure.
Asked by a reporter to explain how the "complete and utter failure" could have occurred, McKenzie said, "While I agree that this strike certainly did not come up to our standards and I profoundly regret it, I would not qualify the entire operation in those terms."
Previously, US Central Command pointed to "significant secondary explosions" as evidence of a "substantial amount of explosive material" in the vehicle.
On Friday, the US military source said that after reviewing footage from infra-red sensors, they would no longer characterize this as an explosion -- instead, it was more of a flare up.
The US official said that in the time leading up to the strike, the US had at least 60 different intelligence reports about threat streams toward US forces at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
A US official with direct knowledge of the standards for a strike of this nature told CNN earlier this month that 10 civilian deaths is an "astronomically high" number and the military would have conducted collateral damage estimates beforehand, meaning commanders were aware that there was a potential for civilian casualties.
"Had we cooperation with any local partner, we would have never fired a missile at the vehicle but tried to get to the drivers before they got in the car," one former intelligence official with knowledge of how these strikes are carried out previously told CNN.
"That assumes we had intel on the car as opposed to the people, and maybe after it was already in route, which leaves far fewer options."
Response to the findings
Biden was briefed on the details of the investigation on Friday morning, an official said.
In a speech last month, the President hailed the strike as an example of the US ability to target ISIS-K.
The White House has not yet commented on the investigation's findings.
On Friday, Milley released a statement on the strike calling it "a horrible tragedy."
"In a dynamic high-threat environment, the commanders on the ground had appropriate authority and had reasonable certainty that the target was valid, but after deeper post-strike analysis, our conclusion is that innocent civilians were killed," Milley said in a statement.
"This is a horrible tragedy of war and its [sic] heart wrenching and we are committed to being fully transparent about this incident," he added.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also apologized for the strike in a statement on Friday, and offered condolences to the family of Zamarai Ahmadi, the driver of the car targeted in the strike.
"We now know that there was no connection between Mr. Ahmadi and ISIS-Khorasan, that his activities on that day were completely harmless and not at all related to the imminent threat we believed we faced, and that Mr. Ahmadi was just as innocent a victim as were the others tragically killed," he said.
Austin said he is directing a "thorough review" of the investigation conducted by Central Command and the information that led the US military to conduct it.
Austin said the military, when it has reason to believe it has taken innocent life, "investigate it and, if true, we admit it."
"But we also must work just as hard to prevent recurrence -- no matter the circumstances, the intelligence stream or the operational pressures under which we labor," he added.
"We will do that in this case."
Human rights group, Amnesty International said Friday's admission was an an "important step toward accountability" but added that Washington needs to take more steps, including paying reparations to family members and survivors of the strike.
"The US must now commit to a full, transparent, and impartial investigation into this incident."
"Anyone suspected of criminal responsibility should be prosecuted in a fair trial," said Brian Castner, a senior crisis adviser with Amnesty International's Crisis Response Program.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said in a statement Friday that "after such a devastating failure - one that, by the Department's estimate, killed 10 civilians, at least 7 of them children - it cannot be the last step."
"We need to know what went wrong in the hours and minutes leading up to the strike to prevent similar tragedies in the future," the California Democrat said, adding that his committee "will continue to press for answers."
This story has been updated with further developments.
CNN's Katie Bo Williams, Oren Liebermann, Ellie Kaufman, Jennifer Hansler and Michael Conte contributed to this report.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/17/politics ... index.html
Re: ADAM SCHIFF
ABC News
"Jan. 6 select committee sends first subpoenas to former Trump aides, advisers"
BENJAMIN SIEGEL
Thu, September 23, 2021
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot issued its first subpoenas Thursday to four former senior Trump administration officials, including former President Donald Trump's longest-serving aide and last chief of staff.
The committee is seeking documents and depositions from Dan Scavino -- Trump's caddy-turned-social media guru and senior White House aide -- former chief of staff Mark Meadows, conservative activist Steve Bannon and Kash Patel, who was the chief of staff for the acting defense secretary on Jan. 6.
In the letters, the panel said it was seeking information about Trump's actions before, during and after the Capitol riot regarding his campaign to overturn the election results.
The committee is demanding records be delivered by Oct. 7, and for all four witnesses to appear for closed-door depositions on Oct. 14 and 15.
"The Select Committee has reason to believe that you have information relevant to understanding the important activities that led to and informed the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021," Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wrote in letters to Bannon and Scavino.
The panel's members have vowed to move aggressively to obtain documents and records from witnesses in Trump's orbit, many of whom have a history of stonewalling congressional investigators.
"That is a concern, but we have additional tools that we didn't before, including a Justice Department that may be willing to pursue criminal contempt when people deliberately flout the compulsory process," Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told reporters Thursday about the possibility of Trump aides defying congressional investigators.
Trump, in a statement, pledged to fight the subpoenas "on executive privilege and other grounds," though not every recipient was a White House or administration official.
Meadows, who was Trump's last chief of staff, was close to Trump before, during and after Jan. 6, and was involved in efforts to challenge the election results -- participating in Trump's call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger when he repeatedly urged him to reverse the presidential election results.
A Meadows aide declined to comment on the subpoena and whether Meadows would cooperate.
Patel, a former GOP congressional aide who worked in the Trump National Security Council before joining the Pentagon, was involved in security preparations for the Jan. 6 counting of the electoral vote on Capitol Hill and mobilizing the response to the riot, according to the committee, citing records obtained from the Defense Department.
Bannon, who remained an outside adviser to the president after helping to lead his first presidential campaign and a short stint in the White House, was at a meeting at the Willard Hotel where lawmakers were encouraged to challenge the election results, the committee claimed in its letter.
He was quoted as saying, "All hell is going to break loose tomorrow," the panel wrote in its letter, citing a Jan. 5 episode of his podcast, "War Room."
Scavino, Trump's longest-serving aide and one of his fiercest defenders on social media, was with Trump before and after rioters stormed the Capitol, the committee claimed in its letter, citing reporting from "Peril," the new book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
He also used his Twitter feed to promote the Jan. 6 demonstration in Washington in support of Trump.
Some attendees of that event outside the White House later marched on the Capitol and stormed Congress as lawmakers attempted to officially affirm the election results.
https://news.yahoo.com/jan-6-select-com ... 00614.html
"Jan. 6 select committee sends first subpoenas to former Trump aides, advisers"
BENJAMIN SIEGEL
Thu, September 23, 2021
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot issued its first subpoenas Thursday to four former senior Trump administration officials, including former President Donald Trump's longest-serving aide and last chief of staff.
The committee is seeking documents and depositions from Dan Scavino -- Trump's caddy-turned-social media guru and senior White House aide -- former chief of staff Mark Meadows, conservative activist Steve Bannon and Kash Patel, who was the chief of staff for the acting defense secretary on Jan. 6.
In the letters, the panel said it was seeking information about Trump's actions before, during and after the Capitol riot regarding his campaign to overturn the election results.
The committee is demanding records be delivered by Oct. 7, and for all four witnesses to appear for closed-door depositions on Oct. 14 and 15.
"The Select Committee has reason to believe that you have information relevant to understanding the important activities that led to and informed the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021," Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wrote in letters to Bannon and Scavino.
The panel's members have vowed to move aggressively to obtain documents and records from witnesses in Trump's orbit, many of whom have a history of stonewalling congressional investigators.
"That is a concern, but we have additional tools that we didn't before, including a Justice Department that may be willing to pursue criminal contempt when people deliberately flout the compulsory process," Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told reporters Thursday about the possibility of Trump aides defying congressional investigators.
Trump, in a statement, pledged to fight the subpoenas "on executive privilege and other grounds," though not every recipient was a White House or administration official.
Meadows, who was Trump's last chief of staff, was close to Trump before, during and after Jan. 6, and was involved in efforts to challenge the election results -- participating in Trump's call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger when he repeatedly urged him to reverse the presidential election results.
A Meadows aide declined to comment on the subpoena and whether Meadows would cooperate.
Patel, a former GOP congressional aide who worked in the Trump National Security Council before joining the Pentagon, was involved in security preparations for the Jan. 6 counting of the electoral vote on Capitol Hill and mobilizing the response to the riot, according to the committee, citing records obtained from the Defense Department.
Bannon, who remained an outside adviser to the president after helping to lead his first presidential campaign and a short stint in the White House, was at a meeting at the Willard Hotel where lawmakers were encouraged to challenge the election results, the committee claimed in its letter.
He was quoted as saying, "All hell is going to break loose tomorrow," the panel wrote in its letter, citing a Jan. 5 episode of his podcast, "War Room."
Scavino, Trump's longest-serving aide and one of his fiercest defenders on social media, was with Trump before and after rioters stormed the Capitol, the committee claimed in its letter, citing reporting from "Peril," the new book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
He also used his Twitter feed to promote the Jan. 6 demonstration in Washington in support of Trump.
Some attendees of that event outside the White House later marched on the Capitol and stormed Congress as lawmakers attempted to officially affirm the election results.
https://news.yahoo.com/jan-6-select-com ... 00614.html
Re: ADAM SCHIFF
THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 AT 10:31 AM
Paul Plante says:
And if anyone out there is naive enough to believe that these Pelosi-ite WITCH HUNTERS/INQUISITORS in this RELIGIOUS CULT OF DEMOCRACY being pushed on us by the Democrats are not a clear and present danger to our collective liberties as citizens of a nation that is supposed to be governed by RULE OF LAW, where those accused of serious crimes are supposed to be afforded DUE PROCESS OF LAW, which carries with it a presumption of innocence until guilt is PROVEN, let us return to 27 July 2021 hearing of the WITCH HUNTERS where we had one of the Popes of the new national religion, that being Jamie Raskin, a Democrat constitutional scholar, who serves the Democrats as an INQUISITOR, and who was the failed Democrat impeachment manager in the second Senate impeachment trial of Trump for an insurrection that never happened, given that neither the Democrats nor Justice Department have found NO EVIDENCE to date to support serious criminal charges of insurrection, testifying on the record as follows:
Mr. Chairman: The Chair recognizes a gentleman from Maryland, Mr. Raskin.
Mr. Raskin: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Sergeant Gonell, Officer Fanone, Officer Hodges, Officer Dunn.
You are great law enforcement officers and a hero to law enforcement officers across the country.
You’re great public servants and [inaudible] public servants across the country, but you are great Americans and you are heroes to all of America.
And long after you are gone, you will be remembered as heroes to our country, along with your fellow officers, and those who attacked you, and those who beat you are fascist traitors to our country and will be remembered forever as fascist traitors.
end quotes
Fascist traitors?
HUH?
Where on earth did that accusation come from?
We now have FASCIST TRAITORS to our country who will be remembered forever as fascist traitors?
Where is the evidence to support that charge?
OH!
Sorry!
I keep forgetting here that we are dealing with DEMOCRATS who are rigging the system to take over OUR nation and impose single-party rule on us, and the one thing a Democrat has never had need for is evidence.
It is enough for them to say something happened, whether it did or not is totally immaterial, and to say someone is guilty of some crime, whether or not that is factually true, and because a Democrat said someone is guilty of being a FASCIST TRAITOR, a serious charge indeed, that’s it, period – they are a FASCIST TRAITOR, and that is all that is needed.
Having a trial to prove what the Democrat said was true is therefore a waste of time and government resources, and there we all are now, people!
Welcome to the NEW WORLD ORDER!
First they came for the REPUBLICANS, and I did not speak out—because I was not a REPUBLICAN.
Then they came for the rest of us who weren’t Democrats — and there was no one left to speak for us.
Only the Democrats were left!
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-432625
Paul Plante says:
And if anyone out there is naive enough to believe that these Pelosi-ite WITCH HUNTERS/INQUISITORS in this RELIGIOUS CULT OF DEMOCRACY being pushed on us by the Democrats are not a clear and present danger to our collective liberties as citizens of a nation that is supposed to be governed by RULE OF LAW, where those accused of serious crimes are supposed to be afforded DUE PROCESS OF LAW, which carries with it a presumption of innocence until guilt is PROVEN, let us return to 27 July 2021 hearing of the WITCH HUNTERS where we had one of the Popes of the new national religion, that being Jamie Raskin, a Democrat constitutional scholar, who serves the Democrats as an INQUISITOR, and who was the failed Democrat impeachment manager in the second Senate impeachment trial of Trump for an insurrection that never happened, given that neither the Democrats nor Justice Department have found NO EVIDENCE to date to support serious criminal charges of insurrection, testifying on the record as follows:
Mr. Chairman: The Chair recognizes a gentleman from Maryland, Mr. Raskin.
Mr. Raskin: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Sergeant Gonell, Officer Fanone, Officer Hodges, Officer Dunn.
You are great law enforcement officers and a hero to law enforcement officers across the country.
You’re great public servants and [inaudible] public servants across the country, but you are great Americans and you are heroes to all of America.
And long after you are gone, you will be remembered as heroes to our country, along with your fellow officers, and those who attacked you, and those who beat you are fascist traitors to our country and will be remembered forever as fascist traitors.
end quotes
Fascist traitors?
HUH?
Where on earth did that accusation come from?
We now have FASCIST TRAITORS to our country who will be remembered forever as fascist traitors?
Where is the evidence to support that charge?
OH!
Sorry!
I keep forgetting here that we are dealing with DEMOCRATS who are rigging the system to take over OUR nation and impose single-party rule on us, and the one thing a Democrat has never had need for is evidence.
It is enough for them to say something happened, whether it did or not is totally immaterial, and to say someone is guilty of some crime, whether or not that is factually true, and because a Democrat said someone is guilty of being a FASCIST TRAITOR, a serious charge indeed, that’s it, period – they are a FASCIST TRAITOR, and that is all that is needed.
Having a trial to prove what the Democrat said was true is therefore a waste of time and government resources, and there we all are now, people!
Welcome to the NEW WORLD ORDER!
First they came for the REPUBLICANS, and I did not speak out—because I was not a REPUBLICAN.
Then they came for the rest of us who weren’t Democrats — and there was no one left to speak for us.
Only the Democrats were left!
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-432625
Re: ADAM SCHIFF
REUTERS
"Schiff says decision likely this week on whether to refer criminal contempt charges against Meadows"
Reuters
November 28, 2021
WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - U.S. House Representative Adam Schiff said on Sunday that the committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot would likely decide this week whether to refer former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for criminal contempt charges for refusing to testify.
"I think we will probably make a decision this week on our course of conduct with that particular witness and maybe others," Schiff said on CNN, referring to Meadows.
"I can't get into what communications that we're having or haven't had with particular witnesses but we are moving with alacrity with anyone who obstructs the committee," said Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the Jan. 6 panel.
"And that was certainly the case with Mr. Bannon, and it will certainly be the case with Mr. Meadows and Mr. (former Justice Department official Jeffrey) Clark or any others."
Former U.S. President Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury earlier this month, the first to be criminally charged for defying a subpoena issued by a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
Bannon is one of more than 30 people close to the former Republican president who have been ordered by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee to testify about what happened in the run-up to Jan. 6, when thousands of people stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to overturn Trump's election defeat.
House investigators hope the action against Bannon will motivate other witnesses, such as Meadows, to testify.
Bannon has refused, citing Trump's insistence - already rejected by one judge - that he has a right to keep the requested material confidential under a legal doctrine called executive privilege.
Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Mark Porter
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/schiff ... 021-11-28/
"Schiff says decision likely this week on whether to refer criminal contempt charges against Meadows"
Reuters
November 28, 2021
WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - U.S. House Representative Adam Schiff said on Sunday that the committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot would likely decide this week whether to refer former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for criminal contempt charges for refusing to testify.
"I think we will probably make a decision this week on our course of conduct with that particular witness and maybe others," Schiff said on CNN, referring to Meadows.
"I can't get into what communications that we're having or haven't had with particular witnesses but we are moving with alacrity with anyone who obstructs the committee," said Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the Jan. 6 panel.
"And that was certainly the case with Mr. Bannon, and it will certainly be the case with Mr. Meadows and Mr. (former Justice Department official Jeffrey) Clark or any others."
Former U.S. President Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury earlier this month, the first to be criminally charged for defying a subpoena issued by a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
Bannon is one of more than 30 people close to the former Republican president who have been ordered by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee to testify about what happened in the run-up to Jan. 6, when thousands of people stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to overturn Trump's election defeat.
House investigators hope the action against Bannon will motivate other witnesses, such as Meadows, to testify.
Bannon has refused, citing Trump's insistence - already rejected by one judge - that he has a right to keep the requested material confidential under a legal doctrine called executive privilege.
Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Mark Porter
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/schiff ... 021-11-28/
Re: ADAM SCHIFF
CBS NEWS
"Transcript: Representative Adam Schiff on 'Face the Nation'"
CBSNews
6 MARCH 2022
The following is a transcript of an interview with Democratic Representative Adam Schiff of California that aired Sunday, March 6, 2022, on "Face the Nation."
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to FACE THE NATION.
We now want to go to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.
He's a Democrat from California and joins us from the Los Angeles area.
Good morning to you.
REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF: Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to start on Ukraine.
The United States purchases about 600,000 barrels of Russian petroleum products a day.
Speaker Pelosi said that oil should be banned.
The White House says it's looking at options.
What is that option?
Does a solution come from Congress or is this something President Biden needs to act on?
REP. SCHIFF: I think it could come from either place.
I think there's very strong bipartisan support to cut off Russian oil and gas sales to the United States.
It's anathema, I think, to many of us in Congress that while we were sanctioning them and trying to cripple their economy that way would help them in any way by purchasing their petroleum.
But I think the administration wants to make sure that we work with our allies.
This will have an impact to - potentially on global oil prices, including here at home, where in Los Angeles now gas is over $5 a gallon.
So he wants to make sure that we understand the impact on the global supply.
But I think there is strong support to show solidarity with Ukraine, but also to make sure that American dollars aren't supporting the Russian war machine in any way.
MARGARET BRENNAN: How quickly does that need to happen?
I mean, this is Putin's lifeline.
It's a cash cow.
REP. SCHIFF: Well, I think we like to act on it very quickly.
At the same time, you know, we have to be circumspect about the fact that Russia will probably find somewhere else to sell that oil and gas to.
So the impact ultimately on Russia may not be as powerful as we would like.
It's why we have to continue to explore additional ways to really crush the Russian economy.
But I have to say I'm enormously impressed with how the world has come together with how here in Congress, in a very partisan Congress, Democrats and Republicans are uniting around this tough sanction package, as well as providing more defensive military support to Ukraine.
There is enormous solidarity with the brave people of Ukraine.
MARGARET BRENNAN: There is solidarity, but it seems that Vladimir Putin is willing to suffer the consequences of those sanctions.
And the Russian people are, the military is not stopping its advance, at least that we can see.
What will happen if, as President Zelensky is predicting he loses his life in this Russian attack, what will the United States do then?
REP. SCHIFF: Well, he has, I think, been an incredibly courageous wartime leader.
This was, I believe, another miscalculation by Putin, who believes Zelensky was weak, would not be able to lead a country to war.
But in fact, he has proved to be enormously strong and not only rallied Ukrainians, but I think rallied people around the world.
I don't want to contemplate what might happen in his absence, although I do think the Ukrainian people will fight on and we will continue to support them.
But obviously, we're doing everything we can, supplying, I think, real time intelligence to help protect him, as well as to give Ukrainians the information they need to defend themselves.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The U.S. and global powers, as we spoke to Secretary Blinken about, are potentially on the cusp of a new diplomatic deal with Iran, a renewed version of this nuclear program should the Biden administration present that to Congress for review?
Do you want to take a look at it?
REP. SCHIFF: Well, I'm certainly going to want to look at it and study it and assess the merits of it.
I think it will come down ultimately to whether it is a, essentially re-entering the deal that the Trump administration pulled America out of or it is substantially different - new and different deal.
If it's the latter then I think it will require a vote in the Congress.
If - if it's the former, then the administration may be able to do that on its own.
Ultimately, I think the decision to pull out was disastrous.
Iran has moved forward both in terms of its enrichment, but also in terms of its expertise.
And ultimately, we're going to have to weigh the impact of that on any new agreement.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You are the chair of intelligence, you know, well, Iran's espionage activities and the operations they've tried to carry out on US soil, including this attempt to kidnap a New York based journalist.
There are also threats against former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other Trump officials.
Should this new deal with Iran include a promise to stop carrying out those kind of operations on U.S. soil?
REP. SCHIFF: Well, I would love a nuclear deal to include prohibitions on Iran's malign activities, a cessation of its missile and drone program.
But the question is not what I would like, but rather whether a deal that is confined to curbing Iran's ability to get a bomb is a good deal.
And I think if we can take off the table, any pathway to a bomb for year - for Iran, that in itself is worthwhile.
These other malign activities of Iran's, their plots against the U.S. personnel or Americans around the world we can deal with and have to deal with separately, and we should deal with them aggressively.
But I wouldn't say that we should neglect to stop their nuclear program because of these other activities.
We need to go after all of this, not necessarily in one agreement.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Before I let you go, I want to ask about the January six committee.
There was a development this week, a court filing claiming there is now evidence that President Trump broke the law in his efforts to overturn the election in 2020.
Do you think that the attorney general is moving fast enough with his enforcement?
REP. SCHIFF: What we made clear in our filing to the court is we believe there's a good faith basis to conclude that the former president and his campaign may have violated any number of federal laws, including obstructing an official proceeding, the joint session, and defrauding the American people.
And I do think that the Justice Department ought to be looking at these issues and ought to be investigating in particular just to give one very graphic example the former president on the phone with the secretary of state in Georgia demanding that he find 11,780 votes that didn't exist, but the precise number he would need to overtake President Biden.
I think if anyone else had engaged in that conversation, they would be under investigation and it should be no different for the former president.
So I think the department is diligently pursuing those who attack the Capitol that day.
But there were multiple lines of effort to overturn the election that may have violated the law, which also should be investigated.
MARGARET BRENNAN: All right.
Chairmanship, thank you for your time this morning.
We'll be right back.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
"Transcript: Representative Adam Schiff on 'Face the Nation'"
CBSNews
6 MARCH 2022
The following is a transcript of an interview with Democratic Representative Adam Schiff of California that aired Sunday, March 6, 2022, on "Face the Nation."
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to FACE THE NATION.
We now want to go to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.
He's a Democrat from California and joins us from the Los Angeles area.
Good morning to you.
REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF: Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to start on Ukraine.
The United States purchases about 600,000 barrels of Russian petroleum products a day.
Speaker Pelosi said that oil should be banned.
The White House says it's looking at options.
What is that option?
Does a solution come from Congress or is this something President Biden needs to act on?
REP. SCHIFF: I think it could come from either place.
I think there's very strong bipartisan support to cut off Russian oil and gas sales to the United States.
It's anathema, I think, to many of us in Congress that while we were sanctioning them and trying to cripple their economy that way would help them in any way by purchasing their petroleum.
But I think the administration wants to make sure that we work with our allies.
This will have an impact to - potentially on global oil prices, including here at home, where in Los Angeles now gas is over $5 a gallon.
So he wants to make sure that we understand the impact on the global supply.
But I think there is strong support to show solidarity with Ukraine, but also to make sure that American dollars aren't supporting the Russian war machine in any way.
MARGARET BRENNAN: How quickly does that need to happen?
I mean, this is Putin's lifeline.
It's a cash cow.
REP. SCHIFF: Well, I think we like to act on it very quickly.
At the same time, you know, we have to be circumspect about the fact that Russia will probably find somewhere else to sell that oil and gas to.
So the impact ultimately on Russia may not be as powerful as we would like.
It's why we have to continue to explore additional ways to really crush the Russian economy.
But I have to say I'm enormously impressed with how the world has come together with how here in Congress, in a very partisan Congress, Democrats and Republicans are uniting around this tough sanction package, as well as providing more defensive military support to Ukraine.
There is enormous solidarity with the brave people of Ukraine.
MARGARET BRENNAN: There is solidarity, but it seems that Vladimir Putin is willing to suffer the consequences of those sanctions.
And the Russian people are, the military is not stopping its advance, at least that we can see.
What will happen if, as President Zelensky is predicting he loses his life in this Russian attack, what will the United States do then?
REP. SCHIFF: Well, he has, I think, been an incredibly courageous wartime leader.
This was, I believe, another miscalculation by Putin, who believes Zelensky was weak, would not be able to lead a country to war.
But in fact, he has proved to be enormously strong and not only rallied Ukrainians, but I think rallied people around the world.
I don't want to contemplate what might happen in his absence, although I do think the Ukrainian people will fight on and we will continue to support them.
But obviously, we're doing everything we can, supplying, I think, real time intelligence to help protect him, as well as to give Ukrainians the information they need to defend themselves.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The U.S. and global powers, as we spoke to Secretary Blinken about, are potentially on the cusp of a new diplomatic deal with Iran, a renewed version of this nuclear program should the Biden administration present that to Congress for review?
Do you want to take a look at it?
REP. SCHIFF: Well, I'm certainly going to want to look at it and study it and assess the merits of it.
I think it will come down ultimately to whether it is a, essentially re-entering the deal that the Trump administration pulled America out of or it is substantially different - new and different deal.
If it's the latter then I think it will require a vote in the Congress.
If - if it's the former, then the administration may be able to do that on its own.
Ultimately, I think the decision to pull out was disastrous.
Iran has moved forward both in terms of its enrichment, but also in terms of its expertise.
And ultimately, we're going to have to weigh the impact of that on any new agreement.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You are the chair of intelligence, you know, well, Iran's espionage activities and the operations they've tried to carry out on US soil, including this attempt to kidnap a New York based journalist.
There are also threats against former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other Trump officials.
Should this new deal with Iran include a promise to stop carrying out those kind of operations on U.S. soil?
REP. SCHIFF: Well, I would love a nuclear deal to include prohibitions on Iran's malign activities, a cessation of its missile and drone program.
But the question is not what I would like, but rather whether a deal that is confined to curbing Iran's ability to get a bomb is a good deal.
And I think if we can take off the table, any pathway to a bomb for year - for Iran, that in itself is worthwhile.
These other malign activities of Iran's, their plots against the U.S. personnel or Americans around the world we can deal with and have to deal with separately, and we should deal with them aggressively.
But I wouldn't say that we should neglect to stop their nuclear program because of these other activities.
We need to go after all of this, not necessarily in one agreement.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Before I let you go, I want to ask about the January six committee.
There was a development this week, a court filing claiming there is now evidence that President Trump broke the law in his efforts to overturn the election in 2020.
Do you think that the attorney general is moving fast enough with his enforcement?
REP. SCHIFF: What we made clear in our filing to the court is we believe there's a good faith basis to conclude that the former president and his campaign may have violated any number of federal laws, including obstructing an official proceeding, the joint session, and defrauding the American people.
And I do think that the Justice Department ought to be looking at these issues and ought to be investigating in particular just to give one very graphic example the former president on the phone with the secretary of state in Georgia demanding that he find 11,780 votes that didn't exist, but the precise number he would need to overtake President Biden.
I think if anyone else had engaged in that conversation, they would be under investigation and it should be no different for the former president.
So I think the department is diligently pursuing those who attack the Capitol that day.
But there were multiple lines of effort to overturn the election that may have violated the law, which also should be investigated.
MARGARET BRENNAN: All right.
Chairmanship, thank you for your time this morning.
We'll be right back.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
Re: ADAM SCHIFF
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Rep. Adam Schiff flexes party muscle with strong fundraising for Biden, Democrats"
BY JENNIFER HABERKORN, STAFF WRITER
AUG. 17, 2020 4 PM PT
WASHINGTON — Rep. Adam B. Schiff is dramatically increasing his political fundraising in the wake of his high-profile role in President Trump’s impeachment trial and ahead of possible vacancies next year in the U.S. Senate and House Democratic leadership — two promotions that could interest the Burbank Democrat.
Schiff has raised more than $22 million since the beginning of 2019 for his campaign committee and other Democratic groups, including Joe Biden’s presidential race, according to the congressman’s campaign.
That includes $1.7 million Schiff raised Monday as host of a virtual event for Biden.
It’s a sharp rise in fundraising for Schiff, who became chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in 2019 and gained national attention as the lead prosecutor in the Senate impeachment trial of Trump this year.
He’s already doubled the $9.9-million fundraising haul for his campaign and other committees in the two-year cycle before the 2018 election.
In the 2016 cycle, he raised only $1 million, according to the Open Secrets website.
That did not include fundraising for the party committees, which was minimal, according to his campaign.
Compared with other House Democrats, Schiff now ranks third in fundraising behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), who leads the committee to elect House Democrats, according to a fundraising document viewed by The Times.
Schiff’s fundraising surge comes as two potential political promotions come within view.
If Biden is elected in November, Gov. Gavin Newsom would have the power to appoint a replacement for Sen. Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic vice presidential candidate.
While Newsom is viewed as likely to choose a woman or person of color for the seat, Schiff’s fundraising efforts could be seen as boosting his chances.
Schiff has eyed the Senate before.
When Sen. Dianne Feinstein was deciding whether to run for a fifth term or retire in 2018, he considered running if she stepped down.
There’s also a possible House leadership race if Pelosi retires.
In late 2018, she agreed to step down as leader of the House Democrats by 2022 and could leave office earlier.
There is no clear successor in place, and Schiff would probably be a contender for a job in which fundraising prowess is key.
He has also built a powerful group of potential allies in the other Democrats to whom he’s contributed.
A Schiff aide downplayed any link between political ambitions and his fundraising.
“Schiff has always felt that if you keep your head down and focus on doing the work, the rest will take care of itself."
"And that philosophy has put him at the center of House Democrats’ effort to hold the president accountable and defend our democracy,” said the aide, who asked to not be identified in discussing the issue.
Besides the impeachment trial, Schiff gained an increasingly prominent party role in 2019 when he was placed in charge of fundraising for the House Democrats who face the toughest reelection fights, called “front-line members.”
These Democrats typically represent historically Republican districts and oftentimes are freshman members.
While Democrats are expected to retain control of the House in the 2020 election, the most vulnerable Democrats often require the most fundraising to fend off challengers.
The $22 million Schiff has raised since the beginning of last year includes $12.4 million for his reelection campaign, $7.3 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and for House Democrats in tough races, more than $2.4 million for Biden and $635,000 for Democratic Senate candidates, according to figures provided by his campaign.
California has often been called the Democratic Party’s ATM for fundraising, a machine that Schiff has been able to successfully use to help Democrats.
Half of the money raised in his reelection committee came from California donors, according to the campaign.
Because Schiff’s seat is considered safe, he is able to spread that money to other Democrats.
Schiff’s Republican challenger, Eric Early, has raised $1.4 million as of June, according to Federal Election Commission documents.
In almost any other district, Early’s fundraising would be enough to provide a substantial challenge, but Democratic voters dramatically outnumber Republicans in the district.
Like the Biden fundraiser Monday, Schiff has focused on virtual events since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person gatherings.
Earlier this month, he held a fundraiser with actor Jason Alexander and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) in support of Democrats.
By election day, he’s expected to have done 50 events for House and Senate candidates.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/ ... -democrats
"Rep. Adam Schiff flexes party muscle with strong fundraising for Biden, Democrats"
BY JENNIFER HABERKORN, STAFF WRITER
AUG. 17, 2020 4 PM PT
WASHINGTON — Rep. Adam B. Schiff is dramatically increasing his political fundraising in the wake of his high-profile role in President Trump’s impeachment trial and ahead of possible vacancies next year in the U.S. Senate and House Democratic leadership — two promotions that could interest the Burbank Democrat.
Schiff has raised more than $22 million since the beginning of 2019 for his campaign committee and other Democratic groups, including Joe Biden’s presidential race, according to the congressman’s campaign.
That includes $1.7 million Schiff raised Monday as host of a virtual event for Biden.
It’s a sharp rise in fundraising for Schiff, who became chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in 2019 and gained national attention as the lead prosecutor in the Senate impeachment trial of Trump this year.
He’s already doubled the $9.9-million fundraising haul for his campaign and other committees in the two-year cycle before the 2018 election.
In the 2016 cycle, he raised only $1 million, according to the Open Secrets website.
That did not include fundraising for the party committees, which was minimal, according to his campaign.
Compared with other House Democrats, Schiff now ranks third in fundraising behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), who leads the committee to elect House Democrats, according to a fundraising document viewed by The Times.
Schiff’s fundraising surge comes as two potential political promotions come within view.
If Biden is elected in November, Gov. Gavin Newsom would have the power to appoint a replacement for Sen. Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic vice presidential candidate.
While Newsom is viewed as likely to choose a woman or person of color for the seat, Schiff’s fundraising efforts could be seen as boosting his chances.
Schiff has eyed the Senate before.
When Sen. Dianne Feinstein was deciding whether to run for a fifth term or retire in 2018, he considered running if she stepped down.
There’s also a possible House leadership race if Pelosi retires.
In late 2018, she agreed to step down as leader of the House Democrats by 2022 and could leave office earlier.
There is no clear successor in place, and Schiff would probably be a contender for a job in which fundraising prowess is key.
He has also built a powerful group of potential allies in the other Democrats to whom he’s contributed.
A Schiff aide downplayed any link between political ambitions and his fundraising.
“Schiff has always felt that if you keep your head down and focus on doing the work, the rest will take care of itself."
"And that philosophy has put him at the center of House Democrats’ effort to hold the president accountable and defend our democracy,” said the aide, who asked to not be identified in discussing the issue.
Besides the impeachment trial, Schiff gained an increasingly prominent party role in 2019 when he was placed in charge of fundraising for the House Democrats who face the toughest reelection fights, called “front-line members.”
These Democrats typically represent historically Republican districts and oftentimes are freshman members.
While Democrats are expected to retain control of the House in the 2020 election, the most vulnerable Democrats often require the most fundraising to fend off challengers.
The $22 million Schiff has raised since the beginning of last year includes $12.4 million for his reelection campaign, $7.3 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and for House Democrats in tough races, more than $2.4 million for Biden and $635,000 for Democratic Senate candidates, according to figures provided by his campaign.
California has often been called the Democratic Party’s ATM for fundraising, a machine that Schiff has been able to successfully use to help Democrats.
Half of the money raised in his reelection committee came from California donors, according to the campaign.
Because Schiff’s seat is considered safe, he is able to spread that money to other Democrats.
Schiff’s Republican challenger, Eric Early, has raised $1.4 million as of June, according to Federal Election Commission documents.
In almost any other district, Early’s fundraising would be enough to provide a substantial challenge, but Democratic voters dramatically outnumber Republicans in the district.
Like the Biden fundraiser Monday, Schiff has focused on virtual events since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person gatherings.
Earlier this month, he held a fundraiser with actor Jason Alexander and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) in support of Democrats.
By election day, he’s expected to have done 50 events for House and Senate candidates.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/ ... -democrats
Re: ADAM SCHIFF
RAW STORY
"Adam Schiff takes a swipe at Biden over Mohammed bin Salman fist bump"
By Sky Palma
15 JULY 2022
During a trip to Saudi Arabia, President Joe Biden greeted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with a fist bump amid White House officials working hard on the optics of the meeting between Biden and the crown prince, who intelligence agencies agree was behind the targeted killing of Washington Post journalist and political opponent Jamal Khashoggi.
As Reuters points out, White House aides said Biden would avoid handshakes during the trip as a precaution against COVID-19, but within minutes of his arrival Biden was shaking hands.
The meeting was the subject of bipartisan criticism on Twitter, with many agreeing that meeting with the Saudis, who intelligence agencies agree were also behind 9/11, was a slap in the face to Khashoggi's family and victims of the 2001 terrorist attack.
Also voicing criticism of Biden was California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who tweeted, "If we ever needed a visual reminder of the continuing grip oil-rich autocrats have on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, we got it today."
"One fist bump is worth a thousand words," Schiff added.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ad ... a08991444e
"Adam Schiff takes a swipe at Biden over Mohammed bin Salman fist bump"
By Sky Palma
15 JULY 2022
During a trip to Saudi Arabia, President Joe Biden greeted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with a fist bump amid White House officials working hard on the optics of the meeting between Biden and the crown prince, who intelligence agencies agree was behind the targeted killing of Washington Post journalist and political opponent Jamal Khashoggi.
As Reuters points out, White House aides said Biden would avoid handshakes during the trip as a precaution against COVID-19, but within minutes of his arrival Biden was shaking hands.
The meeting was the subject of bipartisan criticism on Twitter, with many agreeing that meeting with the Saudis, who intelligence agencies agree were also behind 9/11, was a slap in the face to Khashoggi's family and victims of the 2001 terrorist attack.
Also voicing criticism of Biden was California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who tweeted, "If we ever needed a visual reminder of the continuing grip oil-rich autocrats have on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, we got it today."
"One fist bump is worth a thousand words," Schiff added.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ad ... a08991444e