Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that we could not ignore the so-called predominant domestic threat was the white national threat and “some of the folks are part of the Trump base.”
Wallace said, “I want to ask you about the work on the intelligence committee. Is it different now that the intel chiefs testified to the tragic new reality that the gravest threats to the country are domestic violent extremists? Currently, under the threat warning, we know about radicalized by the big lie still being repeated by Donald Trump. I believe six times since last week and some COVID restrictions where he was also a leading and rater with tweets of liberate Michigan and liberate Virginia?”
Schiff said, “It does affect the work of our committee certainly. I think all of the domestic agencies with a portfolio with domestic terrorism have to prioritize it like FBI and DHS. We have the responsibility of overseeing the intelligence component of that. We were already doing an investigation last year into politicization of intelligence at DHS where one whistleblower was alleging that instructions were being given essentially to downplay the seriousness of the domestic terror committed by white nationalists and hype the threat of Antifa.”
He continued, “We saw that from Bill Barr and others in the leadership of the last administration. We just had a hearing on this subject. I can tell you one of the ongoing challenges is a lot of the Republican members didn’t think that our committee or the intelligence agencies, even those like the FBI and DHS with responsibility here, should be looking at this. That’s quite remarkable. You know, if we were looking at the threat of Islamic terror, the threat from within there would be no reservation about that among my GOP colleagues. But they were very uncomfortable clearly with the FBI and DHS looking at the problem of white nationalism and domestic terror.”
Wallace said, “I was a member of the Republican Party in good standing after 9/11. I can’t fathom the Republicans having that hear no evil, see no evil do nothing about the response to 9/11. You are right. When the threat was foreign terrorism, there was not enough that they could do. There was no measure too aggressive. My question is, can you protect this country with one of the two major political parties refusing to recognize the threat?”
Schiff said, “We ought to be able to find common ground that the predominant terrorism threat facing the country right now is a domestic threat. The predominant part of that domestic threat is white national threat. That has international, transnational links as well. We can’t ignore that because of a political sensitivity that some of the folks are part of the Trump base. So I hope we can find common ground. We need to make sure we protect the country.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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