The Democratic congressman leading the impeachment inquiry is allegedly withholding the transcript of an 8-hour interview with a key witness because he does not want Americans to learn the answers to questions about his office’s involvement with the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint prompted the Democrats’ impeachment effort — so claims House Judiciary Committee member John Ratcliffe (R-TX).
The Texas Republican has made headlines during the public inquiry for strongly pushing back against the Democrats’ impeachment narrative, including when he stacked up thousands of pages of transcripts from interviews in which not a single witness so much as uttered the words “bribery” or “bribe” in reference to any of Trump’s actions related to Ukraine, striking at the heart of the Democrats’ case.
One of the transcripts that has been conspicuously missing from the thousands of pages released by Schiff, however, is the transcript of the committee’s interview with Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, an omission noted on Friday by Real Clear Investigations’ Paul Sperry.
I know why @paulsperry_ It’s because I asked IG Atkinson about his “investigation” into the contacts between Schiff’s staff and the person who later became the whistleblower. The transcript is classified “secret” so Schiff can prevent you from seeing the answers to my questions
— John Ratcliffe (@RepRatcliffe) November 30, 2019
“Why is Schiff still withholding transcript of ICIG Michael Atkinson’s Oct 4 closed-door testimony which lasted 8+ hours?” asked Sperry. “He’s released 15 witness transcripts but is still hiding Atkinson’s. Also, what’s Atkinson’s connection to Obama officials including David Laufman?” – READ MORE