In case you didn’t hear the unbelievable, even tragic news, the House of Representatives Wednesday voted against the idea of censuring and condemning Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for lying about former President Donald Trump colluding with Russia to win the 2016 election.
That is to say that 20 Republicans bailed him out, saved his skin; they threw him a lifeline. Two others voted present.
Throughout “Russiagate,” the fake news – notably CNN and MSNBC – embraced the shifty lawmaker who repeatedly peddled the debunked Trump-Russia collusion narrative. Even worse, for most of the time, Schiff served as chairman of the Intelligence Committee while he spread those lies – and even still spreads them as one of Trump’s harshest enemies. He practically invented them!
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Schiff plans to run for the open U.S. Senate seat in California.
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In a 225-196 vote, the resolution, introduced by young rock star Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., failed. She raised the threshold by recommending Schiff be fined $16 million but did not require it. That provision helped give some cover to squishes in the caucus, like Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who said he opposed the idea of a fine.
“Adam Schiff acted unethically but if a resolution to fine him $16 million comes to the floor I will vote to table it (vote against it),” he tweeted. “The Constitution says the House may make its own rules, but we can’t violate other (later) provisions of the Constitution. A $16 million fine is a violation of the 27th and 8th amendments.”
Along with Massie, the 19 other Republicans voting with Democrats to kill the resolution were Reps. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota, Lori Chavez-DeRemer or Oregon, Juan Ciscomani of Arizona, Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Kay Granger of Texas, Garret Graves of Louisiana, Thomas Kean of New Jersey, Kevin Kiley of California, Young Kim of California, Michael Lawler of New York, Tom McClintock of California, Marcus Molinaro of New York, Jay Obernolte of California, Michael Simpson of Idaho, Michael Turner of Ohio, David Valadao of California and Steve Womack of Arkansas.
The resolution that failed on the House floor said claims of Trump-Russia collusion were cooked up by Trump’s political opponents, mostly Democrats, and pursued by the Department of Justice despite the lack of any solid foundation for suspecting collusion.
As Fox News reported, the resolution says the Democrats’ claims of collusion were “revealed as false” by “numerous” investigations, including Special Counsel John Durham’s probe into how the investigation into Trump was launched. It says that report, and reports from Special Counsel Robert Mueller and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, show that collusion “does not exist” despite Schiff’s public claims to the contrary.
“By repeatedly telling these falsehoods, Representative Schiff purposely deceived his Committee, Congress, and the American people,” the resolution said.
“Representative Schiff lent credibility to the Steele dossier – a collection of debunked collusion accusations funded by President Trump’s political rivals – by reading false Steele allegations into the Congressional Record,” it says. “Representative Schiff composed a false memo justifying the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant application on Trump associate Carter Page, which Inspector General Horowitz later found was riddled with 17 major mistakes and omissions, provoking FISA Court Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer to state unequivocally that the Federal Bureau of Investigation ‘[misled] the FISC.”
If the resolution had passed, Schiff would have had to stand in the well of the House while the resolution language was read, and he would have been subject to an Ethics Committee investigation.
“Representative Schiff used his position and access to sensitive information to instigate a fraudulently based investigation, which he then used to amass political gain and fundraising dollars,” notes the resolution. “The American taxpayers paid $32 million to fund the investigation into collusion that was launched as a result of Representative Schiff’s lies, misrepresentations, and abuses of sensitive information.”
Ronald Reagan once stood by something called the “Eleventh Commandment.” “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.” His was a different time, indeed.
The squish Republicans who bailed out Schiff are feeling the heat of this vote. Their phones are ringing off the hook with threats to primary them. Why do Republicans not fight back? It’s certainly a good question, especially when the Democrats stole the 2020 election from Trump and now are trying not to let him save the country with a second term.
“It’s a shame,” said Steve Bannon, a major supporter of Trump. “The Republicans can’t even do the easy stuff. And this should have been easy.”
The feisty and gutsy Congresswoman Luna supposedly told Schiff just after the vote, “We’ll be back.”
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