During his weekly press conference on Thursday, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calf.) said it looks like House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has met his own standard to recuse himself from the Democrats’ expanded investigation into President Trump’s finances.
His comments followed the seven-hour testimony of ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday, where Cohen testified that he had met with Schiff to discuss “topics” prior to the hearing.
Schiff helped prep Cohen pic.twitter.com/ZTWG5LpUVr
— James Hirsen (@thejimjams) February 28, 2019
On Thursday, two Republicans on the House Oversight Committee referred Cohen to the Justice Department for alleged perjury, accusing him of making intentionally false statements during his public testimony.
“Yesterday there was a hearing. Two weeks ago I put out questions for Chairman of Intel. Committee Adam Schiff – I even have more questions now,” said McCarthy.
“In the hearing with Mr. Cohen, he said that he talked to Chairman Schiff. Question I have, what did they talk about? How many times did they discuss? Did staff meet? Where did they meet? Did they travel to meet?” the Republican leader continued.
“Just as I had the question before about his meeting with Glenn Simpson, with Fusion GPS – what did they talk about? How often did they meet as well? Adam Schiff set a standard that said Devin Nunes had to recuse himself. It looks as though Adam Schiff has met that same standard,” he concluded.
Michael Cohen admitted he discussed “topics that might come up” w/ Adam Schiff in preparation for yesterday’s hearing.
Why the silence and secrecy from Mr. Schiff? What did they discuss? How many conversations did they have? pic.twitter.com/XOnHyqIvkh
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) March 1, 2019
As PJ Media previously reported, photos emerged last month of Schiff meeting with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, a key figure in the Russia collusion scandal, last July at an Aspen security conference.
McCarthy’s comments came as Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel called on Schiff to recuse himself from the investigation.
“Really, the story that’s not being talked about right now is, Adam Schiff needs to recuse himself from this investigation,” McDaniel declared on the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), PJM’s Tyler O’Neil reported. “There is no reason why he should be part of this and leading this investigation. And we should all be calling for his recusal from this investigation.”
Julie Kelly at American Greatness argues persuasively that it’s time for a House ethics probe into the shifty congressman.
“Two years ago, Adam Schiff told America he had solid evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians. Since he told that big fat lie, he’s continued to mislead Congress and the country, making baseless accusations against Trump and his family,” Kelly wrote on Twitter.
“He very likely has leaked nonpublic info to the press, and now this week, tampered with a witness. The GOP signed off on a bogus ethic [sic] probe into Nunes in 2017 for nothing — where is House Ethics inquiry on Schiff for his misconduct or @CongressEthics?”
She added: “Schiff’s counter-memo to Nunes’ explosive Feb. 2018 memo about FISA abuse is filled with misstatements. It’s a public record – why has Schiff not been forced to correct or retract? Why is he getting away with this bad behavior @RepKenMarchant?”
American voters deserve answers to these questions in addition to learning why he’s meeting in secret with witnesses and subjects of investigations.
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