House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) listens during a House Intelligence Committee hearing titled "Putin's Playbook: The Kremlin's Use of Oligarchs, Money and Intelligence in 2016 and Beyond" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) has subpoenaed both Rick Gates and Mike Flynn to testify before Congress.
Schiff said in a statement, “As part of our oversight work, the House Intelligence Committee is continuing to examine the deep counterintelligence concerns raised in Special Counsel Mueller’s report, and that requires speaking directly with the fact witnesses. Both Michael Flynn and Rick Gates were critical witnesses for Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation, but so far have refused to cooperate fully with Congress. That’s simply unacceptable. The American people, and the Congress deserve to hear directly from these two critical witnesses. We hope these witnesses come to recognize their cooperation as being with the United States, not merely the Department of Justice.”
The House Intelligence Committee chairman wants the American people to hear directly from the witnesses who cooperated with Mueller.
Rep. Schiff wrote to Gates, “Because you have declined to comply voluntarily with the Committee’s requests for documents and testimony, the Committee has no choice but to compel the production of the specified documents and your testimony through the attached subpoena. In light of your ongoing cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice and the fact that you have already testified publicly under oath concerning your own criminal conduct, it is unfortunate that you are unwilling to cooperate with the Committee. While the Committee understands that your cooperation agreement with the Department of Justice only requires you to testify for the Department, the Committee is disappointed that you do not view your cooperation more broadly as an obligation to assist the United States of America, and not merely the Department of Justice.”
Both Gates and Flynn are still under cooperation agreements with the DOJ. Schiff wants to extend the requirements of those cooperation agreements to include congressional testimony.
Rep. Schiff used Flynn’s upcoming sentencing as leverage, “The Committee notes that on December 18, 2018, the United States District Judge overseeing your pending criminal prosecution in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia offered you the opportunity to adjourn sentencing until ‘it’s clear that you’ve done everything you possibly can for the United States of America.’ In accepting the Court’s offer, your counsel represented to the Court that you wished to ‘eke out the last modicum of cooperation’ and thereby place yourself in ‘the best position to argue to the Court the great value of [your] cooperation.’ While the Committee recognizes that your cooperation agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice only requires you to testify for the Department, your cooperation with the Committee’s investigation nonetheless provides an opportunity to demonstrate to the Court that you have met the ‘high standard’ of cooperation that you represented to the Court that you set for yourself. It would further underscore to your sentencing judge that ‘you’ve done everything you possibly can for the United States of America,’ not just the Department of Justice.”
Adam Schiff and the Intel Democrats are coming for the witnesses in the Mueller report. Rep. Schiff is correct. There are questions that were left unanswered by the Mueller report. Mueller’s narrow mandate of looking at a potential conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians left out a whole world of potential counterintelligence issues. The Democrats are tightening the screws because all of these different investigations lead to the impeachment path for Trump.
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