A former Trump administration official confronted House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) over his promotion of the so-called Steele Dossier after its primary researcher was arrested for allegedly lying to the FBI.
During an appearance on ABC’s “The View” Tuesday, former State Department spokesperson under former President Donald Trump, Morgan Ortagus, confronted Schiff over his promotion of the Steele Dossier.
“We know last week that the main source was indicted by the FBI for lying about most of the key claims in that dossier,” she said before asking, “Do you have any reflections on your role in promoting this to the American people?”
Schiff responded, “Well, first of all whoever lied to the FBI or lied to Christopher Steele should be prosecuted, and they are. And unlike in the Trump administration, if they’re convicted, they should go to jail and not be pardoned. So Donald Trump pardoned Roger Stone for lying. He pardoned Michael Flynn for lying.”
“If people lie to the FBI, they should go to jail. But at the beginning of the Russian investigation, I said that any allegations should be investigated,” he continued. “We couldn’t have known for example, people were lying to Christopher Steele. So it was proper to investigate them. And let’s not forget what we learned in that investigation.”
The California Democrat went on to note that the Russia investigation revealed that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort “was giving internal polling data, campaign polling data to Russian intelligence while Russian intelligence was helping the Trump campaign.”
However, Ortagus pushed back pointing out that Manafort was fired from the campaign.
Schiff began to respond by arguing that Mananfort “may have been fired, but the effort to get Russian help continued.”
Ortagus interrupted and said, “You may have helped spread Russian disinformation for years by promoting this. I think that’s what Republicans and what people who entrusted you as the Intel Committee chair are so confused about your culpability in all of this.”
Watch the video below:
Schiff: "None of [Trump's] serious misconduct is in any way diminished by the fact that people lied to Christopher Steele." @MorganOrtagus: "No, I think just your credibility is."
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) November 9, 2021
pic.twitter.com/9QR2W4NEb0
Schiff said he “completely” disagrees with her premise and added, “It’s one thing to say allegations should be investigated and they were. It’s another thing we should have foreseen in advance that people were lying to Christopher Steele which is impossible, of course, to do.”
He continued:
“But let’s not use that as a smokescreen to somehow shield Donald Trump’s culpability for inviting Russia to help him in the election which they did. For trying to coerce Ukraine into helping him in the next election, which he did. Into inciting an insurrection which he did. None of that is undercut. None of that serious misconduct is in any way diminished by the fact that people lied to Christopher Steele.”
Ortagus fired back, “No, I think just your credibility is.”
The exchange comes after a key researcher for opposition research on Trump known as the Steele Dossier was arrested for allegedly lying to the FBI about his sources.
As The New York Times reported, “The analyst, Igor Danchenko, was a primary researcher for claims that went into the so-called Steele dossier, a compendium of rumors and unproven assertions suggesting that Mr. Trump and his 2016 campaign were compromised by and conspiring with Russian intelligence officials to help him defeat Hillary Clinton.”
“In a 39-page indictment obtained by the special counsel, John H. Durham, a grand jury accused Mr. Danchenko of five counts of making false statements to the F.B.I. about his sources for certain claims in the dossier,” it added.