Comment The Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday that public pressure to unseal the affidavit used in the Florida investigation of former President Donald Trump The home could put FBI agents in personal danger or be used by Trump’s lawyers to intimidate witnesses. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he understood the public interest in seeing the affidavit “is real,” but warned of the unintended consequences of releasing the document. “I think the administration is arguing that early in the investigation, when it could jeopardize the pursuit of justice, is not the time to essentially give Trump’s lawyers a road map on how to intimidate witnesses or how to derail a trial. legitimate investigation,” Schiff said. Schiff’s comments came amid ongoing fallout from the Aug. 8 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida, where a large team of agents discovered boxes of documents that included classified and highly classified material. Schiff pointed out that Trump has in the past retaliated against anyone he considers a whistleblower, including by indictment for treason. Schiff also referred to a gunman apparently spurred by Trump’s “inflammatory rhetoric” to try to break into an FBI office in Ohio and was killed after an hours-long standoff. Schiff, along with House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney (DN.Y.), asked the intelligence committee last week for a “damage assessment” report on the mishandling of highly classified information by Trump. On Sunday, Schiff said he hasn’t received it yet but has “every expectation” it will be shared with lawmakers. Schiff defended the Justice Department’s handling of the investigation, saying he was confident Attorney General Merrick Garland “took every precaution” and “made every effort” to obtain the documents before the Mar-a-Lago search. How a records controversy led the FBI to investigate Mar-a-Lago A federal judge considering whether to unseal part of the affidavit said last week he was willing to do so after asking the Justice Department to redact parts of it. Several news outlets, including the Washington Post, called on the court to release the affidavit. The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Michael R. Turner (Ohio), told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the affidavit should be made public so the public can see if the investigation is warranted as a matter national security. . “Show us what you found,” Turner said. “It certainly won’t affect the investigation.” Turner said the public needs to understand why the FBI devoted extensive resources to the Mar-a-Lago investigation at a time when the administration is dealing with other “imminent national security threats” such as Chinese espionage, the war in Ukraine , drug trafficking and man. traffic along the Mexican border. Lawmakers from both parties criticized statements Sunday by some Republicans who attacked the FBI over the Mar-a-Lago investigation. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said she was “embarrassed to hear Republicans immediately and reflexively attack FBI agents who executed a search warrant.” Cheney, who suffered a landslide primary defeat last week widely seen as punishment for her opposition to Trump and her role as vice chairman of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on Capitol Hill, said he has seen no evidence of a partisan motive for the FBI raid. “I just think for us as a party to be in a position where we’re reflexively attacking law enforcement professionals to defend a former president who behaved the way he did — it’s a really sad day for the party,” he said. Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Tex.) called Republican calls to “defund the FBI” “crazy.” “Ninety-nine percent of Republicans are not on that train,” Crenshaw said. However, Crenshaw said intense criticism of the bureau was not to blame for the Aug. 11 attempted attack on an FBI office in Ohio by a gunman who was killed by police. “What we want is accountability. We want transparency,” he said. “And our criticisms of the FBI and the Department of Justice are completely justified. It’s not these criticisms that drive a madman to attack the FBI.” David Laufman, the former counterintelligence chief at the Justice Department, said he believes the department should return to court with a “reasonable proposal” to a federal judge’s suggestion that portions of the affidavit used in the FBI investigation could be unsealed. or to be freed. with arrangements. He stressed that the government will want to ensure that partisan factors do not create a “carnival atmosphere” around the inquiry. “The Department of Justice and the FBI want to do everything they can to protect the integrity of the confidential law enforcement actions that are taken,” Laufman told “Face the Nation.” “I think the department and the FBI are now trying to figure out what they can live with, in terms of public disclosures,” he said. “And there are certain portions of the affidavit that I believe they will be willing to release.”
