Democrats complaining about Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe's decision to pull back from giving election security briefings to two congressional committees are "perpetuating yet another hoax," Sen. Tom Cotton said Monday.
"What Director Ratcliffe is saying is that we're going to continue with the model that we have used for more than 40 years since the creation of the intelligence committees," the Arkansas Republican said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "The members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees are going to continue to receive the kind of in-person briefings we receive on every topic that is relevant to the intelligence community's work."
CNN reported Saturday that Ratcliffe would not be giving the House and Senate intelligence committees in-person briefings, but will instead rely on written updates.
Sunday, Ratcliffe accused some lawmakers of leaking information "within minutes" of the sit-down meetings and said his briefings had been to "not just the oversight committees, but every member of Congress," and that he's scaling the meetings back to the committees only.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff Sunday denied that he or his staff were behind any leaks but said he couldn't speak for other committee members from either party. He also accused the Trump administration of pushing a false narrative to downplay Russian interference in the 2020 election.
"There is a reason he earned the nickname shifty Adam Schiff," said Cotton. "You will notice that he takes no responsibility for the members of his own committee."
Cotton also slammed Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Monday for saying President Donald Trump should not visit Kenosha, the site of protests after the shooting of Jacob Blake.
"He has created a no-go zone in his own state for the president of the United States," said Cotton. "[Trump] is the president of all 50 states and he should go anywhere he wants to show that he is going to stand up for law and order and defend the safety of the American people."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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