Years later, California Sen.-elect Adam Schiff defended his claims about Russian collusion during a recent appearance on CNN's “State of the Union.”
Host Jake Tapper asked Schiff on Sunday about President-elect Donald Trump's recent controversial Cabinet nominations, including former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz. Tapper called these candidates “disruptors” but wondered if there was any introspection in Washington about encouraging them.
“You told the House last year that, in their view, you were in a position of power during the Trump era as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and you said, “You've undermined that credibility by saying there's evidence of collusion between the Trump administration and the president.'' campaign and Russia,” Tapper said. “And do you feel at all introspectively that that was an exaggeration, according to the Mueller report and your Republican colleagues? I wonder if it's because of these destroyers? ”
Adam Schiff stood by his claims of Russian collusion despite being debunked multiple times. (Screenshot from CNN)
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“First of all, that was not an exaggeration,” Schiff replied. “There is evidence of collusion. To give one example, the head of the Trump campaign met with Russian intelligence and provided internal polling data. And the Mueller report reveals all of this.”
“The investigation did not establish that any member of the Trump campaign conspired or cooperated with the Russian government's election interference efforts,'' which means he did not do it and did not meet. “No, but they found no evidence of that,” Tapper followed up.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation found no evidence of Russian collusion within the Trump campaign. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“Mr. Mueller has said the same thing: 'The fact that we didn't find evidence beyond a reasonable doubt doesn't mean there wasn't evidence of conspiracy or coordination,'” Schiff said.
In 2023, Schiff repeatedly claimed that Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to win the presidential election, and was censured by a party-line vote in the House. He was also removed from his position on the House Intelligence Committee earlier that year.
His claims stem from the infamous Steele dossier, which alleges that Trump's team colluded with Russia and that the Kremlin had blackmail material against Trump. In 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller later concluded in his own report that there was no evidence that President Trump colluded with Russia.
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Schiff continued to defend himself long after his claims were debunked and discredited. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The Steele dossier received further credibility in 2021 when Special Counsel John Durham accused Russian analyst Ivan Danchenko, who was believed to be a key sub-source of the dossier, of making false statements to the FBI. lost.
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