by WorldTribune Staff, March 28, 2019
Every Republican on the House Intelligence Committee signed a letter on March 27 calling on Rep. Adam Schiff to step down as chairman over his repeated claims to have evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.
Meanwhile, Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking Republican on the committee, said he will send a criminal referral to the Department of Justice next week that will detail “multiple referrals on a number of different crimes,” including leaking classified information, as part of his investigation into misconduct at the Justice Department and the FBI.
In the letter to Schiff, the GOP committee members slammed the chairman: “Your willingness to continue to promote a demonstrably false narrative is alarming.”
The letter states: “The findings of the Special Counsel conclusively refute your past and present assertions and have exposed you as having abused your position to knowingly promote false information, having damaged the integrity of the Committee, and undermined faith in U.S. government institutions.”
The letter concluded: “As such, we have no faith in your ability to discharge your duties in a manner consistent with your Constitutional responsibility and urge your immediate resignation as Chairman of this Committee.”
Republican Rep. Mike Conaway read the letter during a March 28 Intelligence Committee hearing, arguing Schiff has been “at the center of a well-orchestrated media campaign claiming, among other things, the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government.”
CBS News reported that “A visibly emotional Schiff, who did not know this broadside from Republicans was coming, had a strident response.”
“At times raising his voice,” the report said Schiff listed what he claimed were known interactions between the Trump campaign and Russia.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brushed off the mounting calls for Schiff to resign, saying they were “absolutely ridiculous.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, also resisted the GOP’s demands, insisting: “Mr. Schiff is going to be chairing that committee for a long time to come.”
Another Republican calling on Schiff to step down is President Donald Trump.
Trump tweeted on March 27: “Congressman Adam Schiff, who spent two years knowingly and unlawfully lying and leaking, should be forced to resign from Congress!”
The president echoed those remarks later on March 27 in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity: “I heard they should force him off the committee, or off the committee chair. He should be forced out of office,” Trump told Hannity. “He is a disgrace to our country.”
Trump, who has tussled with Schiff since entering the White House, called the congressman a “pencil neck” during a White House meeting with Senate Republicans on March 26, Politico reported.
During the meeting, Trump also reportedly said Schiff would be a horrible golfer because he would only be able to drive the ball 50 yards down the fairway.
In an interview with Breitbart News, Nunes said he believes Attorney General William Barr will have to act on his criminal referral. “There’ll be things in there that cannot be ignored. There will be crimes … so they have to be dealt with,” he said.
In addition to the criminal referrals, Nunes said he plans to interview about 50 people, including some who have not yet been called before Congress, who were involved or know about the pushing of the anti-Trump dossier within various U.S. government agencies.
On the ending of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, after it found the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia, Nunes said: “We knew this was a joke from the beginning, and I’ve said as much for a long time. Basically from the time our report came out, which has been a year. But now, the real work begins. It’s good to not have that sitting out there. But we have to now go on offense and track down all these dirty cops and bad players.”
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