House Intel Panel ‘Back On Track’: Yates, Brennan, Clapper Asked To Testify

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CA), speaks with reporters about the committee's investigation into Russia's involvement in the recent U.S. presidential election, on Captiol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CA), speaks with reporters about the committee's investigation into Russia's involvement in the recent U.S. presidential election, on Captiol Hill in Washing... House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CA), speaks with reporters about the committee's investigation into Russia's involvement in the recent U.S. presidential election, on Captiol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

After a troubled two months that saw the “temporary” recusal of Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), the House Intelligence Committee’s ranking member, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), announced Friday that the panel’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the U.S. election was “back on track.”

Schiff and the new senior Republican on the committee, Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX), sent out letters asking key Obama administration officials and senior intelligence officials to testify before the committee.

FBI Director James Comey and National Security Advisor Adm. Mike Rogers were invited to appear at a closed hearing on May 2, according to a statement from Schiff’s office. Former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates also were asked to appear in an open hearing that would be scheduled after May 2.

Those officials were initially scheduled to come before the committee in March. But Nunes scrapped their appearances after going public with claims that he’d seen intelligence reports that showed information about President Donald Trump and his staffers was “incidentally collected,” and Nunes asserted that the identities of those persons were inappropriately unmasked in the reports.

Other lawmakers from both parties who later viewed the same reports said the documents showed no evidence of wrongdoing. At the time of the cancelations, Schiff charged that Nunes was trying to “choke off” public information about the Russia probe.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Are these hearings going to be about fears of pearl-clutching “leaks” to the press, or about DJT’s Russian ownership?

  2. I’m willing to bet that the Republicans on the committee will do their best to at least hijack the open hearings into focusing on the former and looking at Susan Rice.

  3. Yates will be the only one worth paying attention to. Clapper? How many times must a man lie to congress, before they stop asking him back?( ♫♬)

  4. Avatar for krux krux says:

    Rep. Adam Schiff = the right person at the right place at the right time

    ETA: he has some serious chops in what he is doing, he is not easily thrown off course, and he’s going to need every ounce of his skill and experience in the role he’s in.

  5. I will be interested in seeing how Nunes sulks in open hearings… or whether he skips out altogether.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

34 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for paulw Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for marby Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for thepsyker Avatar for mike_in_houston Avatar for redraleigh Avatar for ignoreland Avatar for hornblower Avatar for tena Avatar for kafantaris Avatar for timbo Avatar for katscherger Avatar for socalista Avatar for krux Avatar for bluefalcon

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: