CNN’s Tapper Presses Adam Schiff on False ‘Trump-Russia’ Allegations
During an appearance on State of the Union with CNN's Jake Tapper, Senator-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA) faced questions regarding the numerous Russia investigations, including the Mueller special counsel probe. Tapper questioned whether those investigations might have influenced President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to appoint what he called “disrupters” to his second Cabinet.
“I’m looking at these nominees: Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence, possibly Kash Patel to be head of the FBI, Gaetz at DOJ, RFK Jr. at HHS, and others. And, obviously, he is bringing a group of people to disrupt. I mean, that is what [House] Speaker [Mike] Johnson said,” Tapper remarked. Notably, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, nominated as attorney general, had withdrawn his name from consideration just days earlier.
Tapper continued, “And I’m wondering about how much anybody in Washington is being introspective at all about why there is this kind of opening for disrupters, if not necessarily these individuals. You were censured in the House last year for, in their view, holding positions of power during the Trump presidency as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and, according to them — quote — ‘abusing this trust’ by saying there was evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
“And I wonder if you are feeling at all introspective at all about — that was, according to your — according to the Mueller report and according to your Republican colleagues, an overstatement. And I wonder if you think in any way you helped set the table for these disrupters?” Tapper asked.
In response, Schiff doubled down on his claims that Trump and Russia had “colluded” during the 2016 election.
“You know, first of all, it wasn’t an overstatement. There is evidence of collusion. The Trump campaign manager was meeting with Russian intelligence and giving them internal polling data, just to give you one example. And the Mueller report sets all this out,” Schiff asserted.
Tapper countered, quoting directly: “It does say — quote — ‘The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,’ which doesn’t mean that he didn’t — that there weren’t meetings, but they didn’t find evidence of it.”
Schiff replied: “Mueller says that too. He says the fact that we didn’t find proof beyond a reasonable doubt doesn’t mean there wasn’t evidence of conspiracy or coordination.” However, Schiff did not address the underlying issue: the lack of substantive evidence that originally justified the investigation.
“So — but, look, that’s not what people were voting on. People were voting on, is this guy going to improve the economy? Is he going to address inflation?” Schiff said, shifting the focus.
He continued, “And we didn’t persuade the American people that we had a better answer to that question, that we had a better program, agenda, plan. And, more than that, I think we failed to persuade the American people that, in the voters’ point of view, hey, that party, that candidate understands people like me. They’re fighting for people like me.”
Schiff added, “And that’s on us. We’re going to have to figure that out. I think that’s what people were voting on, more than anything else. And, yes, we’re going to have to do the introspection to say, how do we meet this challenge?”
The allegations Schiff referenced were rooted in the now-discredited Steele dossier, which claimed the Kremlin had compromising information on Trump and that his team had worked with Russia.
In 2021, Special Counsel John Durham charged Russian analyst Ivan Danchenko, a key source for the Steele dossier, with lying to the FBI. This further eroded the dossier’s credibility and highlighted the shaky foundation of Schiff’s allegations.