House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said the intelligence community is hesitant to speak in an open hearing, as was the norm prior to the Trump administration, “because they’re worried about angering the president.” And, he said, the NSA and CIA are withholding documents from Congress and the Senate about Ukraine because of “pressure from the administration.”
On Sunday, Schiff was asked on ABC’s This Week about a report that said intelligence agency officials were hesitant to appear in front of his committee to speak about global security threats.
“The intelligence community is reluctant to have an open hearing, something that we had done every year prior to the Trump administration, because they’re worried about angering the president,” Schiff said.
After the congressman confirmed the report, he then took it a step further, saying that the NSA is withholding documents on Ukraine that are “potentially relevant [to impeachment] that the senators might want to see during the trial.” The congressman added, “And there are signs that the CIA may be on the same tragic course.”
Schiff said the situation is “deeply concerning” and spoke to the importance of these agencies not succumbing to outside pressure: “We are counting on the intelligence community not only to speak truth to power but to resist pressure from the administration to withhold information from Congress because the administration fears that they incriminate them.”
Rep. Adam Schiff tells @gstephanopoulos a public hearing on global security threats before the House Intelligence Committee could be in jeopardy because members on the intelligence community are "worried about angering the president." https://t.co/cqiFPziHtO pic.twitter.com/eaNOV8gtfW
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 19, 2020
