Republican California Rep. Devin Nunes tore into Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff in a letter Sunday that suggested Schiff was “complicit in the violation” of Carter Page’s civil liberties and had “hijacked” the House Intelligence Committee.
Nunes wrote the letter, obtained by the Daily Caller, to the chairman of the committee, in response to Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report released last week. That report said FBI actions were “pretty bad” and found widespread abuse in how the bureau obtained Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants to spy on Page, who worked on President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Chairman Adam Schiff (L), Democrat of California, and Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R), Republican of California, during the first public hearings held by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as part of the impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., Nov. 13, 2019. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS
Nunes noted that “the IG’s findings of pervasive, major abuses by the FBI dramatically contradict the assertions of your memo released on February 24, 2018, in which you claimed, ‘FBI and DOJ officials did not ‘abuse’ the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process, omit material information, or subvert this vital tool to spy on the Trump Campaign.'” (RELATED: Lindsey Graham: Carter Page Should ‘Sue The Hell Out Of’ FBI And DOJ)
The ranking Republican member on the committee suggested that Schiff is “in need of rehabilitation, and I hope this letter will served as the first step in that vital process.”
Nunes reminded Schiff of how the congressman had consistently offered his “misguided validation of the FISA warrant” as well as touting former MI6 agent Christopher Steele’s legitimacy and the now discredited dossier that he provided to the FBI that, among other things, suggested Trump was cavorting with prostitutes in Russia.
“For example, during this committee’s March 20, 2017 open hearing, you claimed Steele ‘is reportedly held in high regard by U.S. Intelligence,’ and proceeded to read into the congressional record numerous conspiracy theories proffered by Steele, all of which are false,” Nunes wrote, adding that “this makes it clear your rehabilitation will be a long, arduous process.”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The ranking member suggested that Schiff has completely forgotten that the Intelligence Committee “is responsible for overseeing the Intelligence Community and exposing abuses. Yet when the IG identified gross abuses in our jurisdiction, you expressed full faith in the agencies we’re supposed to be vigilantly monitoring … ”
Nunes accused Schiff of using the committee as a “launching pad” for impeaching the president and that Schiff needs to acknowledge that he has failed to monitor the intelligence community while admitting he has “a problem — you are hijacking the Intelligence Committee for political purposes while excusing and covering up intelligence agency abuses.” (RELATED: Comey Says He Was Wrong In Surveillance Abuse, But Downplays His Own Role In Bungled Case)
The GOP congressman is not optimistic about Schiff’s “rehabilitation,” writing that it will require Schiff to admit that he had denied abuses in the DOJ and FBI while being “complicit in the violation of an American’s civil liberties.“
In a parting shot, Nunes cited Schiff’s “years-long false claim that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to hack the 2016 presidential election.” Schiff persisted in telling the media that the evidence of collusion could be “found in plain sight,” while Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report found no evidence of collusion.