Donald Trump, Jr, Busts Schiff's Effort to Hide Russian Investigation Witness Transcripts

AP featured image — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., accompanied by the impeachment managers House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo. speaks to reporters, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. The U.S. Senate was poised to hear opening arguments Wednesday in President Donald Trumpâ€™s impeachment trial, with Democratic House managers set to make their case that Trump abused power and should be removed from office. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Donald Trump Jr. is raising awareness about House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff’s effort to block the release of transcripts of witnesses in the Russian investigation and he asked who was Adam Schiff trying to protect in the process, mentioning prominent members of the Obama administration.

Adam Schiff is desperately trying to hide these transcripts (including mine) from the American people. Who do you think he’s trying to protect? Me or Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Sally Yates and Andy McCabe?

Schiff’s Secret Transcripts – WSJ https://t.co/wSmVkhLKWx

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 26, 2020

“Adam Schiff is desperately trying to hide these transcripts (including mine) from the American people. Who do you think he’s trying to protect? Me or Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Sally Yates and Andy McCabe?” Trump Jr. asked.

Trump, Jr was citing a Wall Street Journal story which called out Schiff for refusing to release 43 transcripts which have been declassified as well as stopping the declassification of 10 additional transcripts.

From Washington Examiner:

[“]Among the transcripts he’s blocking are interviews with former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice and former Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power. Their authority was used to ‘unmask’ the names of Trump campaign officials who talked with foreigners who were wiretapped by U.S. intelligence,” the editorial board wrote.

“We’re told that another blocked interview is with former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates — who in early 2017 used a wild reading of the Logan Act that helped lead to the ouster of President Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn,” it added. “Mr. Schiff is also sitting on interview transcripts with Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign advisers Corey Lewandowski, Sam Clovis and Steve Bannon. Is he worried that the transcripts will highlight how little substance there was to his collusion claims? The interviews would also allow the public to compare the early testimony of former FBI and intelligence officials (James Clapper, Andrew McCabe) against what we now know really happened.”

The editorial board concluded: “Mr. Schiff spent years shouting cover-up only to be exposed for making things up. Now that the evidence is ready for public release, he’s defying the unanimous vote of a bipartisan committee to make them public. What doesn’t Mr. Schiff want America to see?”

The Wall Street Journal suggested that Schiff was trying to prevent the pushers of the collusion theory from scrutiny as to their remarks and actions.

Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking member on the Committee, told the Washington Examiner there was no reason to keep the information secret apart from that they want to hide what’s in them. He called for them to be released immediately.

So what is he hiding? If he had nothing to hide, why wouldn’t he want them out there? He spent three years spinning nonsense and making up claims of evidence that didn’t actually exist. But he doesn’t want people to be able to start comparing the testimony with the facts and blow a lot of the collusion pushing effort out of the water.