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Adam Schiff: Credulous Congressman

By Ray McGovern, January 24, 2020

Five days after President Trump took office, I had an opportunity to brace House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff personally about evidence that Russia “hacked” into the DNC.  He had repeatedly given that canard the patina of flat fact during an address at the old Hillary Clinton/John Podesta “think tank,” The Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Fortunately, the cameras were still on when I approached Schiff during the Q&A:  “You have every confidence but no evidence, is that right?” I asked him. ( https://raymcgovern.com/2017/01/31/thats-bogus-ray-mcgovern-pwns-congressman-schiff-on-russian-hacking-fairy-tale/  ) —  2 minutes

The canard was just barely at the duckling stage back then.  So, to give Schiff the benefit of the doubt, he may have put misplaced confidence in the Gang of Three — CIA/Brennan-FBI/Comey-National Intelligence Director/Clapper — con-men all.  They were, in any case, telling Schiff what he wanted to hear.

As frequenters of this site are aware, subsequent years have turned up no concrete, technical evidence that the DNC was “hacked” — by Russia, or by anyone else.  The DNC emails were copied onto an external storage device before being given to WikiLeaks.  Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, whose ranks include two former NSA Technical Directors, have shown this to be the case, relying on the principles of physics and on the forensics that the FBI, for some reason, did not do.  (And, please, do not let adjectives like “debunked” be used in attempts to cast doubt on VIPS’ unchallenged — if often unwelcome — conclusions.)

I need to tell you right off the bat that the next video-clip is not from The Onion.  Rather, it shows a more recent example of Schiff’s incredible, incurable credulity, as he regaled some equally credulous young folks at the same “think tank” on Oct. 23, 2018 (hat tip to Rosie Memos @almostjingo for tweeting).  Chairman Schiff clearly has a nose for hot tips about his bete noire, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This was abundantly that October day when he addressed a young audience at the same old Clinton/Podesta “think tank”.  Schiff said he had been told that Putin has one of his henchmen follow then-Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev around with a pillow to smother him in his sleep if he ever gets out of line.  ( See: https://raymcgovern.com/2018/11/24/adam-schiffs-incredible-incurable-credulity/ .)

There is not the slightest hint in the video that Schiff was speaking tongue in cheek. Equally sad, no one in the audience laughed.  (Where do they recruit such credulous young folks?).

But who gave Schiff the “intelligence” about the “pillow-carrier” poised to snuff out Medvedev?  Which of the Gang of Three might it have been?  U.S. Attorney John Durham surely has enough on his plate these days as he looks into the larger Russia-gate canard, of which “the-pillow-carrier-and-Medvedev” is but a small duckling. Nontheless, it seems possible we will learn the identity of the con who whispered the tale of the pillow into Schiff’s impressionable ear.

Adam Schiff’s Incredible, Incurable Credulity

Putin henchman ready to assassinate Medvedev by pillow
https://twitter.com/almostjingo/status/1054963776661938176
(hat tip to Rosie Memos @almostjingo for tweeting)Rep. Adam Schiff, who takes the chair of the House Intelligence Committee in January, has a nose for hot tips about his bete noire, Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as a strong bent toward credulousness.  On October 23, 2018, Schiff solemnly told a young audience at the old Hillary Clinton/John Podesta Center for American Progress Action Fund that he had been told that Putin has one of his henchmen follow Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev around with a pillow to smother him in his sleep if he ever gets out of line.

No, the video contains no hint that Schiff was speaking tongue in cheek.  Perhaps worse, no one in the audience laughed (where do they recruit such credulous young folks?).

Be sure to scroll down for images of the pillow-carrier caught in action. :-))  He apparently has no reason to fear “identification,” since, according to Schiff’s source, “Medvedev is nothing.”

On a more serious note, it was 22 months ago that I challenged Schiff as the “Russian hacking” accusations were proliferating. ( See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdOy-l13FEg ) In the 2-minute clip, Schiff recites language highly relevant today as the Deep State tries desperately to brand Julian Assange a “known participant” — that is, an active conspirator with Russia, and not merely Russia’s “useful idiot.”

Some of our “Justice” officials today apparently think they can detour around 1st amendment hurdles if they can dredge up, or manufacture, “evidence” enabling them to use the Espionage Act of 1917 against Assange.

At think tanks like the Center for American Progress, hope springs eternal.  Impatience too.  As poor Schiff knows, Mueller has been at it for a year and a half — and FBI super-sleuth Peter Strzok for a half-year before that, after which he complained to FBI lawyer/girlfriend Lisa Page that “there is no big there there.”  But when Schiff takes the chair in January, God knows what they’ll find!

Meanwhile back at the ranch, President Donald Trump and his chief advisers give no indication they are aware of what to expect, if Trump continues to allow the Justice Department to slow-walk his order to declassify crucial documents that could — in a lawful world — land ex-FBI Director James Comey, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former CIA Director John Brennan, et al. behind bars.
The stakes are very high.  By all indications Trump is afraid — and not only of pillows.

Those wishing more background on the rudderless Schiff may wish to click on:
  — or —

Ray Was Face-to-Face With Adam Schiff, ranking member, House Intelligence Committee, this morning – January 25, 2017

https://www.c-span.org/video/?422656-1/representative-adam-schiff-discusses-russian-electionyear-hacking

(Segment with Ray and Schiff is from minute 1:14:25 to 1:16:20.)

 

The official Q and A after a panel on “Russian Hacking and U.S. Elections” was greatly shortened this morning at Mrs. Clinton’s most enthusiastic supporter/think tank, the Center for American Progress, so Ray did not get to ask a question during the Q and A.  (The Center, founded by John Podesta and now led by Neera Tanden, has been going all out to blame Mrs. Clinton’s defeat on Russian President Putin, James Comey – anyone but their too-clever-by-half campaign.)

 

But the camera was still running after the formal session and caught Ray asking Adam Schiff, D, California, whether he is claiming he knows more than Obama about the gaping evidence-gap between Russian hacking and WikiLeaks.  Ray referred Schiff to then-President Obama’s words at his last press conference exactly a week ago:

 

“… the conclusions of the intelligence community with respect to the Russian hacking were not conclusive” regarding WikiLeaks.  In other words, the intelligence community has no idea how the DNC emails reached WikiLeaks.  (See: https://consortiumnews.com/2017/01/20/obama-admits-gap-in-russian-hack-case/ )

 

The gravitas displayed at the panel discussion gave superficiality a bad name.  The c-span video is probably worth skimming through, if only for that.  But Ray’s two minutes with Schiff may be worth a fast-forward.

The Sanger and Schiff Who Cried Wolf

“The Russians are coming” again, according to NYT David Sanger:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/30/us/politics/2020-election-security-briefings.html

The Russians are “aggravating tensions in our cities,” according to Adam Schiff:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/adam-schiff-trumps-willfully-fanning-the-flames-of-violence-in-cities

How are we to believe them after they lied about the “Russian hacking” of the DNC emails?
https://raymcgovern.com/2020/08/21/no-forensic-evidence-russia-hacked-dnc-emails/

“THAT’S BOGUS!” Ray McGovern PWNS Congressman Schiff On Russian Hacking Fairy Tale.

Moxnews.com has put on YouTube, under the above title, the discrete 2-minute segment of Ray’s indiscreet question of Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, on January 25.  Those who have not had time to fish that segment out from the longer YouTube version (posted below “Ray Was Face to Face With Adam Schiff”) can access it easily at:

The bogus-ness of Schiff’s answer is shown in the January 17 VIPS Memorandum for President Barack Obama, “A Demand for Russia ‘Hacking’ Proof.”

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/01/17/a-demand-for-russian-hacking-proof/
As senior CIA veteran Milton Bearden has put it, there are occasions when more damage is done by “protecting” sources and methods than by revealing them.

“Know Where You Stand, and Stand There”

By Ray McGovern (channeling Dan Berrigan)

February 4, 2023 (14 minutes)

Asked to include in a recent talk some personal examples of nonviolent “intervention”, I dug out a couple of photos in which I “Stand There” in witness and am “taken to ground” (as the Capitol police put it). Then came a 2-minute video showing me asking former House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff for proof that Russia “hacked” the DNC.

(Spoiler: he said he could not share it with me. Those of us paying attention know that this was NOT because it was classified, but rather because it was “non-existent” – just as “non-existent” as the evidence of WMD in Iraq before the U.S./UK attack 20 years ago.)

There was not enough time to show my favorite “intervention” – the mini-debate I had with Donald Rumsfeld in Atlanta on May 4, 2006.

To inject humanity into why we are called to Stand There, I recited a short poem by Fr. Dan Berrigan:

SOME

Some stood and stood and stood.
They were taken for fools
They were taken for being taken in.

Some walked and walked and walked
They walked the earth
They walked the waters
They walked the air.

Why do you stand they were asked and
Why do you walk?

Because of the children, they said, and
Because of the heart, and
Because of the bread,
Because
The cause
Is the heart’s beat
And the children born
And the risen Bread.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Because of the children

The conference addressed “How Nuclear War Can Be Avoided” and was organized by the Schiller Institute. It can be viewed in its entirety at https://schillerinstitute.com/blog/2023/02/03/conference-the-age-of-reason-or-the-annihilation-of-humanity/  My segment comes between minutes 56 and 74.

What About “Those 12 Russian Intel Agents Indicted for Hacking”?

By Ray McGovern, November 8, 2022

One respondent to my article yesterday wrote: “Ok, some simple facts:

– 12 Russian intelligence agents were indicted for hacking into the DNC and the DCCC.”

Those 12 indictments may linger in the minds of others, as well, so I am grateful for the opportunity to clarify.

What I remember is the following: (Btw, Friday the 13th is just a coincidence):

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, July 13, 2018

The Department of Justice today announced that a grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment presented by the Special Counsel’s Office. The indictment charges twelve Russian nationals for committing federal crimes that were intended to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. All twelve defendants are members of the GRU … They also were able to hack into the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) … to steal emails and documents.

(I have been told that, later that day, the same grand jury indicted a ham sandwich, but I have not been able to confirm that.)

Were Robert Mueller, and the official who appointed him Special Counsel, Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, unaware on July 13, 2018 of CrowdStrike guru Shawn Henry’s unclassified, sworn testimony of Dec. 5, 2017 that there was no technical evidence that Russia (or anyone else) hacked the DNC emails published by WikiLeaks?

In my article I included a subhead “All in the (FBI) Family”. That incestuous, revolving-door relationship, of course, includes the Department of Justice.

Mueller begat Shawn Henry; Rod Rosenstein begat Mueller as Special Counsel; Mueller/Rosenstein begat twelve (count them, 12!) very safe indictments of GRU officers.

Safe? There was/is zero expectation that anyone would have to produce any “evidence” – the real evidence (Shawn Henry’s sworn testimony) remaining deep-sixed by Adam Schiff (and longer later by the NYT). And co-conspirator James Comey was able to remain above it all, so to speak, because (1) of his physical and NY Times-enhanced stature; and (2) because of his sudden onset of amnesia at crucial junctures.

Summing up the dramatis personae (alphabetically): Comey, Henry, Mueller, New York Times, Rosenstein, Schiff.

I do not normally quote Oliver North, but “Is this a great country or what?”