CNN’s Tapper Fires Back Adam Schiff Over Serious ‘Trump-Russia’ Claims

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Disclaimer: The article may include the author's opinions.

Senator-elect Adam Schiff was asked to consider the various Russia investigations, including the Mueller special counsel investigation, and whether they affected President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to appoint disrupters to his second Cabinet in a recent interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union.

Tapper began by referencing Trump’s list of nominees, including Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Kash Patel for head of the FBI, Matt Gaetz for the Department of Justice, and RFK Jr. for Health and Human Services. He noted that Speaker Mike Johnson had acknowledged that the purpose of these appointments seemed to be to disrupt the system. Tapper then questioned whether there was any introspection in Washington about why such figures were gaining prominence.

He pointed out that Schiff had been criticized by the House last year for his role as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee during the Trump presidency, and accused him of “abusing trust” by claiming evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Tapper asked if Schiff felt responsible for potentially setting the stage for these “disrupters.”

In response, Schiff reiterated his stance that there had been evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. He pointed to an example from the Mueller report, claiming that Trump’s campaign manager had met with Russian intelligence and shared internal polling data.

Tapper countered with a direct quote from the Mueller report that the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities. Tapper pointed out that while meetings took place, the investigation did not find evidence of conspiracy.

Schiff, however, dismissed this finding, suggesting that the absence of conclusive proof didn’t mean there wasn’t evidence. He added that the real issue in the election was not about Russia but about the American people’s economic concerns and whether Trump could improve the economy and address inflation.

Schiff acknowledged that the Democratic Party had failed to persuade voters with a better economic agenda or a relatable vision for the future. He said the challenge was to better understand voters’ concerns and connect with them more effectively. He concluded that introspection would be necessary for the party to meet these challenges.

Schiff’s claims about collusion were largely based on the controversial Steele dossier, which alleged that the Kremlin had compromising information on Trump and that his campaign had conspired with Russia. However, the dossier’s credibility was further undermined when Special Counsel John Durham accused Russian analyst Ivan Danchenko, believed to be a key source for the dossier, of lying to the FBI in 2021.