House Democrats’ top impeachment inquisitor abruptly changed from repeatedly insisting on the testimony of a whistleblower against President Donald Trump to working to prevent it. The change occurred as soon as it was revealed the complainant had secretly worked with Rep. Adam Schiff’s Democratic staff prior to filing his formal complaint on Aug. 12.
At first, Schiff insisted an anti-Trump bureaucrat sharing allegations against the president must share his story with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. But after news broke that Schiff’s staff had secretly worked with the whistleblower prior to the complaint being lodged, discussions that the whistleblower failed to mention when specifically asked about them as part of the official whistleblower process, Schiff moved to prevent the testimony. The move appears designed to prevent Republican lawmakers from asking the individual under oath about his discussions with House Democrats, media, and others involved in the impeachment effort.
Schiff announced on Sept. 24 the whistleblower had agreed to speak with the committee:
We have been informed by the whistleblower’s counsel that their client would like to speak to our committee and has requested guidance from the Acting DNI as to how to do so.
We‘re in touch with counsel and look forward to the whistleblower’s testimony as soon as this week.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) September 24, 2019
Two days later, Schiff peppered Joseph Maguire, the director of national intelligence, about the need to hear from the “whistleblower” in an uninhibited fashion:
ADAM SCHIFF: Director, do I have your assurance that once you work out the security clearances for the whistleblower’s counsel, that that whistleblower will be able to relate the full facts within his knowledge that concern wrongdoing by the president or anyone else, that he or she will not be inhibited in what they can tell our committee, that there will not be some minder from the White House or elsewhere sitting next to them telling them what they can answer or not answer? Do I have your assurance that the whistleblower will be able to testify fully and freely and enjoy the protections of the law?
“We need to speak with the whistleblower,” Schiff and other Democrats proclaimed, repeatedly.
On Sept. 29, Schiff talked about the whistleblower coming in “without a minder from the Justice Department or from the White House to tell the whistleblower what they can or cannot say. We’ll get the unfiltered testimony of that whistleblower.”
In early October, however, news broke that the complainant had come to Schiff’s staff before filing. Schiff stopped demanding the testimony, and last Sunday he claimed it was no longer needed. While the extent of their coordination is unknown, the major problem was that the discussions were undisclosed by both Schiff and the anti-Trump complainant. Schiff had publicly denied any such interactions while the bureaucrat failed to mention the contacts when specifically asked about them on a government form.
The final portion of the whistleblower form requires whistleblowers to attest under penalty of perjury that they have neither misstated nor concealed material facts in their complaints.
“I certify that all of the statements made in this complaint (including any continuation pages) are true, complete, and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief,” whistleblowers are required to attest. “I understand that, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1001, a false statement or concealment of a material fact is a criminal offense punishable by a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment for up to five years, or both.”
The complaint was composed of second-hand claims, full of gossip and rumor, and riddled with false assertions, as indicated by the actual transcript.
Democrats have dramatically switched from demanding transparency about the whistleblower complaint to hiding depositions, transcripts, and evidence. In contrast, President Trump declassified the transcript of the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and documents surrounding the whistleblower complaint.
The reason the Democrats are doing all this in secret is simply because they merely want the IMPRESSION of impeachment happening. It is no surprise that almost ALL their witnesses have destroyed their narrative. Schiff doesn’t want the “whistle blower” to face Republican questions.
Only a true idiot would believe any of this is legitimate or trust any Democrat supporting this sedition until they confront their own lies.
Deny all they want, but the wheels are coming off the Schiff version:
A staffer for House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) attended a meeting in Ukraine last August with the acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine that was organized by a Burisma-funded think tank linked to the Steele dossier, investigative journalist Aaron Klein reported at Breitbart on Thursday.
That’s acting Ambassador Bill Taylor and Schiff’s staffer, Thomas Eager.
The Atlantic Council is a Ukraine-centric think tank funded by left-wing billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, Google, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Inc., and the U.S. State Department, according to Breitbart.
The Atlantic Council is the entity that pushed a narrative last month suggesting that the entire international community—not just Joe Biden—was behind the firing of Shokin.
However, the testimony of George Kent, (on Tuesday) deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, directly contradicts the “international community” narrative.
The so-called “whistleblower” claims are written in 1st person but from their footnotes you can see they mirror exactly the report this think tank put out as a result of the Schiff staffer and the whistleblower’s visit to Ukraine! Report called Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
4 of the footnotes reference their own report!!!
Schiff and the whistleblower.
Buzzfeed (pusher of the dirty dossier) also helped with this report, but the complaint by the whistleblower never references that nasty partner!
@Nan G: Whacha hiding Shiftaaay
GOP HPSCI members counted 20 documents that have yet to be shared with the Minority. In the letter, the Minority requests the Majority release all documents to all committee members regardless of party identification.
We expect that the Majority adhere to the Committee’s past precedents and that appropriately cleared staff have immediate access to all documents generated or received by the Committee related to your impeachment inquiry. We see no reason for your withholding of these documents except as a deliberate attempt to hinder the Minority’s participation.
Further, given that you have recently acknowledged that the Committee no longer needs to receive testimony from the whistleblower, your ‘impeachment inquiry’ lacks any relationship with the jurisdiction of this Committee. As you are aware, the Committee was established to conduct crucial oversight of the Intelligence Community, and we are increasingly concerned our normal work is being overlooked in favor of partisan activities best suited for another Committee.
Something in Ukraine has the Democrats scared Schiff-less, perhaps for very good reason.
@Deplorable Me:
You do realize that there are Republicans on the House Investigative Committee and they are questioning witnesses, right?
@Donna Paige: Wouldnt it be easier for them to pose important questions if they had all the documents that Schiff is hiding from them?
@Donna Paige: Oh, certainly. That’s how we find out that the majority of witnesses confirm that Trump has done nothing wrong and that this entire circus is just another Democrat attempt at a coup. However, that does not negate the fact that Democrats are doing everything they can to make this a biased, prejudice, illicit and unconstitutional process to try and railroad impeachment. All because true investigations are getting way too close to the facts of their prior collusion, corruption and sedition.
Bill Taylor, Deep State drama queen, plans to “fill in the gaps” of Ukraine text messages at closed-door impeachment deposition. If you read the tweets and reports from/about conversations with Bill Taylor, you see what a drama queen he is.
Everything that happened around Ukraine he exaggerates and/or misconstrues.
He conflates things that are not related.
He is the LAST person to “fill in the gaps” about this Ukraine business, so it is natural that Schiff is using him.
There are Lefties on TV who do the same conflating and misrepresenting of facts, so these are today’s talking points from Deep State.