Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rejected the proposal to review John Bolton’s manuscript in the Senate’s Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), calling it “absurd” and adding that there is “no need for it be read in the SCIF unless you want to hide something.”
GOP lawmakers on Monday floated subpoenaing the former national security advisor’s manuscript, which became a key point of interest following a New York Times report based on Bolton’s book, which claimed that Trump “told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens,” according to Bolton’s manuscript.
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) suggested subpoenaing the manuscript for lawmakers to review in the SCIF.
“We should get access, I believe, even though it is going through the classification [process]. Every member of Congress has classified clearance,” Lankford said, according to the Hill.
“We should be able to get access to that document to be able to read that manuscript for ourselves rather than getting it third hand from the New York Times,” he added.
Schumer, however, sharply dismissed the proposal, calling it “absurd”:
.@SenSchumer kills Lankford/Graham proposal to make Bolton manuscript available to senators in the SCIF: "What an absurd proposal. It's a book!"
— Ben Siegel (@benyc) January 28, 2020
“What an absurd proposal. It’s a book! There’s no need for it be read in the SCIF unless you want to hide something,” Schumer stated at a press conference on Tuesday:
Watch: Schumer says GOP proposal to read Bolton's manuscript in a classified setting is "absurd."
"It's a book! There's no need for it to be read in the SCIF unless you want to hide something."pic.twitter.com/wSS3dN8lAF
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 28, 2020
“To what extent are some of our Republican colleagues going to twist themselves [into an] entire pretzel to avoid the truth?” he continued. “Our view is simple, we want for witnesses, four documents.”
However, Schumer’s sharp dismissal of the SCIF proposal stands in stark contrast to the way leading House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) handled the depositions throughout the House impeachment inquiry, holding many in what became known has Schiff’s “secret impeachment dungeon.”
As Breitbart News reported:
The House Intelligence Committee has a huge hearing room in the Longworth House Office Building where they can hold hearings that do not concern classified material, which members of the public and journalists can attend.
But the impeachment inquiry is taking place in the committee’s Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) — a room for members to use when discussing and viewing classified material.
Republicans say the impeachment inquiry is not an intelligence matter that needs to be in the SCIF, but its location gives Schiff the ability to tightly control everything — and everyone — going in and out.
Security guards stand in front of the two wooden doors to make sure reporters and other unauthorized members of the public stay out. But inside the hallway, there are security officers who make sure unauthorized members of Congress and staffers stay out of the SCIF.
Schiff and the Democrats control who is allowed in.
“You can’t go in unless you’re on the list,” a congressional source with knowledge of the impeachment inquiry told Breitbart News. “[They] have like a list, so you can’t sneak into the SCIF or try to get an extra staffer in there or something like that.”
Under Schiff’s rules for the impeachment inquiry, only members of the three committees involved in the inquiry — House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight and Government Reform Committees — are allowed in.
“I guess that’s why @RepAdamSchiff held all of his sham depositions in a SCIF…,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham wrote in response to Schumer’s remarks:
I guess that’s why @RepAdamSchiff held all of his sham depositions in a SCIF… https://t.co/6r5lJGkCo1
— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) January 28, 2020
Democrats are hoping to get four GOP senators to join their calls for additional witnesses, including Bolton. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Mitt Romney (R-UT), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have signaled that they remain open to calling for additional witnesses but are waiting to make a final decision until after President Trump’s defense presents its entire case.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.