A Republican member of Congress wants Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff to pay a price for jamming the discredited story of Russian collusion with the 2016 Trump campaign down the throats of the American people.
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who last week called for Schiff to be expelled from Congress, said Schiff should be censured and fined $16 million for his lead role in claiming the false tale of collusion was the truth.
“The Durham Report makes clear that the Russian Collusion was a lie from day one and Schiff knowingly used his position in an attempt to divide our country,” she said, according to Florida Politics.
“This will be a privileged motion to censure & a $16 million dollar fine (half the cost of the Russia hoax investigation) meaning I WILL bring this vote to the house floor. I will not back down from this and I, along with my Republican colleagues, look forward to holding Schiff ACCOUNTABLE for his actions,” Luna posted on Twitter.
This will be a privileged motion to censure & a $16 million dollar fine (half the cost of the Russia hoax investigation) meaning I WILL bring this vote to the house floor. I will not back down from this and I, along with my Republican colleagues, look forward to holding Schiff… pic.twitter.com/m7Pra52bPA
— Anna Paulina Luna (@realannapaulina) May 23, 2023
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“It is the obligation of House Leadership to back up this motion for the American people and hold this feckless man accountable,” Luna said in a statement, according to the New York Post.
The Post noted that in 2017, Schiff said he had seen “more than circumstantial evidence” of the nonexistent collusion between Russia and former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
“I can certainly say with confidence that there is significant evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia,” he also said in 2018.
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Schiff was dismissive about the resolution.
“MAGA extremists just filed a motion to censure and fine me $16 million because I stood up to Donald Trump and his allies. They’re 8 days away from defaulting on our debt, but Speaker McCarthy and his MAGA allies would rather try to silence me. But I’m not backing down. Ever,” Schiff said.
MAGA extremists just filed a motion to censure and fine me $16 million because I stood up to Donald Trump and his allies.
They’re 8 days away from defaulting on our debt, but Speaker McCarthy and his MAGA allies would rather try to silence me.
But I’m not backing down. Ever.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 23, 2023
The text of House Resolution 437 noted that Schiff, from his position on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives “abused this trust by citing evidence of collusion that—as is clear from reports by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, and Special Counsel Durham—does not exist.”
The resolution said Schiff “purposely deceived his Committee, Congress, and the American people.”
Schiff acted “to encourage and excuse abusive intelligence investigations of Americans for political purposes,” the resolution said.
“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,” the resolution said, helping fuel an investigation that cost American taxpayers $32 million.
The resolution calls for Schiff to be censured “for conduct that misleads the American people in a way that is not befitting an elected Member of the House of Representatives” and fined $16 million.
The resolution castigated Schiff for his conduct during the Russia probe.
“Whereas, once again abusing his privileged access to classified information, 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,’” the resolution said.
The resolution added that “by publicly smearing Carter Page as a Russian collaborator and justifying spurious investigations of him, Representative Schiff contributed to the gross violation of a United States citizen’s civil liberties, thereby committing the very abuses HPSCI is tasked with identifying and thwarting.”
HPSCI is an acronym for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
