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Adam Schiff: ‘It’s Hard To Be Sympathetic’ Toward Carter Page After FBI Smeared Him

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House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff holds a press conference after the House passed Resolution 755, Articles of Impeachment Against President Donald J. Trump, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on December 18, 2019. - The US House of Representatives voted 229-198 on Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump for obstruction of Congress. The House impeached Trump for abuse of power by a 230-197 vote. The 45th US president is just the third occupant of the White House in US history to be impeached
PhoSAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) made a series of false statements on Friday about the inspector general’s (IG) report on the FBI’s misconduct in surveilling the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, and even went as far as to say that it was hard to feel any sympathy toward a Trump campaign adviser who was smeared by the FBI.

The California Democrat made the remarks on PBS’s “Firing Line With Margaret Hoover,” a show that normally asks notable figures tough questions, but did not press Schiff hard on a variety of issues over which he has been repeatedly criticized.

During the interview, Schiff falsely claimed that the IG “debunked” the notion that the Steele dossier was essentially a critical element in opening up an investigation into members of the Trump campaign.

Later in the interview, Schiff falsely claimed that the IG “confirmed” that the investigation was “not driven by political bias.” The IG found that there was not bias in the opening of the investigation but could not determine that bias did not exist after the investigation had been opened.

“Carter Page says that the FBI spying into his life ruined his good name,” Hoover said to Schiff. “He also says that he will ‘never completely have his name restored.’ Do you feel any sympathy for Carter Page?”

Schiff responded, “I have to say Carter Page came before our committee and dissembled for hours of his testimony, denied things that we knew were true, later had to admit them during his testimony. It’s hard to be sympathetic to someone who isn’t honest with you when he comes and testifies under oath. It’s also hard to be sympathetic when you have someone who has admitted to being an adviser to the Kremlin.”

“But he was also informing the CIA,” Hoover interjected.

“Yes. Yes,” Schiff said as he appeared stunned that there was any push back on his comments. “Who was apparently both targeted by the KGB but also talking to the United States and its agencies. And that should have been included, made clear. And it wasn’t, according to the inspector general.”

The IG report found that there were 17 “inaccuracies and omissions” in the FBI’s FISA application on Page, including evidence that was fraudulently manufactured against him and the fact that the FBI withheld exculpatory evidence from the court.

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Moving on to a different topic related to the entire Russia ordeal, Hoover said, “One thing that I found remarkable was that in the closed-door testimony of Fiona Hill, she said that she was concerned that the so-called Steele dossier may have revealed that Steele himself may have been played by the Russians. And it brings up this subject of disinformation. She said it is ‘very likely that Russians planted disinformation in and among other information that may have been truthful because that’s exactly, again, the way they operate. And I think everyone should always be cognizant of that.’”

“It is certainly the way the Russians operate. Whether they did this with Christopher Steele I think is purely speculative on Dr. Hill’s part, and I’m tremendously impressed with her, and I think she’s a phenomenal Russia expert,” Schiff responded. “But let’s not lose sight of the fact that the Russians had a goal in the 2016 election, and their overriding goal was to help the Trump campaign, damage Hillary Clinton, and divide the American public.”

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