House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Rep. Adam Schiff told NBC News’ "Meet the Press" on Sunday that he has no regrets about giving credibility to the Steele dossier, even after Special Counsel John Durham has further discredited the document.
The California Democrat read, in a dramatic fashion, some of the most explosive claims from the dossier by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele into the Congressional Record during a House Intelligence Committee hearing in March 2017.
But Schiff insisted on “Meet the Press” that "I don't regret saying that we should investigate claims of someone who, frankly, was a well-respected British intelligence officer. And we couldn’t have known, of course, years ago that we would learn years later that someone who is a primary source lied to him."
But Schiff added that “Steele did reveal that the Russians were trying to help elect Donald Trump. That turned out to be all too true … And in fact, the Trump campaign chairman was giving internal campaign polling data to Russian intelligence while Russian intelligence was trying to help elect Donald Trump."
He emphasized that “the top line there of Russian help and Trump willingness to accept it and make use of it proved all too accurate."
Schiff said it is unacceptable that Igor Danchenko, the Russian analyst believed to have been the primary sub-source of the Steele dossier, “lied to Christopher Steele and then lied to the FBI. He should be prosecuted. He is being prosecuted.”
The congressman added that “if he's convicted, he should not be pardoned the way Donald Trump pardoned people who lied to FBI agents, like Roger Stone and Mike Flynn. There ought to be the same standard in terms of prosecuting the liars. But I don't think there ought to be any pardon, no matter which way the lies cut."
Durham, who is probing the origins of the Russia investigation, charged Danchenko earlier this month with making false statements to the FBI.
The Steele dossier served as a basis for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants against Trump campaign aide Carter Page and was originally commissioned by a research company hired by Hillary Clinton's campaign lawyer.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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