351
Augment: to this chapter
“Steve Bannon was the only witness the Majority was willing to subpoena in the face of White House-directed defiance, and even there, the Majority ultimately backed down. Committee Republicans refused to consider a contempt recommendation for Bannon after the White House continued to bar Bannon from key testimony, save for answering “no” to 25 questions furnished by the White House that were meant to cover the entire period from the transition through Bannon’s tenure at the White House.”
“During Bannon’s February 15, 2018 follow-up interview, with the subpoena still in effect, Bannon refused to answer questions beyond those authorized by the White House. In response to a question from Ranking Member Schiff as to whether Bannon ever discussed the Russia investigation with either Speaker Paul Ryan or Chairman Nunes, Bannon denied communicating with Speaker Ryan, but claimed he was unauthorized by the White House to answer the question about the Chairman. Under subsequent questioning about his contacts since leaving the White House, Bannon had no choice but to acknowledge communicating with Chairman Nunes, but did not answer questions about the frequency, means, and subject matter of their communications.13 Bannon’s refusal to answer demonstrates how the White House, in confining pertinent witnesses to carefully-worded questions, sought to mislead the Committee. Although Bannon remained under subpoena, the Majority refused during the interview to order Bannon to answer questions beyond those authorized by the White House. A motion to hold Steve Bannon in contempt was also defeated on a party-line vote (see Chapter VI for transcript of March 22, 2017 business meeting).”
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20180322/108023/HRPT-115-2.pdf
Interesting quote on Papadopoulos’s wife on pg 22:
The Majority, in fact, has refused to engage the Special Counsel’s office to seek Papadopoulos’ testimony before the Committee. It opposed pursuing his production of documents, and turned down requests to interview campaign officials that Papadopoulos interacted with and may have communicated with about the Russian overture. The Majority also refused to interview other individuals who may be knowledgeable about Papadopoulos’s receipt of information on the stolen emails, including his wife, Simona Magiante. By failing to take these natural investigative steps, the Majority has made clear that it is not interested in determining “the provenance of the emails,” with whom on the campaign Papadopoulos shared this information, or any other information that might implicate the Trump campaign in collusion with the Russians. You cannot find what you do not seek.
This quote should be added to a chapter on the Coffee Boy.
The Majority’s suggestion that the emails to which Mifsud referred might be those connected to Hillary Clinton’s private server, instead of those stolen from the DNC, is equally disingenuous. The FBI determined in 2016 that there is no evidence to indicate that Clinton’s private email server was ever successfully hacked. 43 More significant, only weeks after Papadopoulos learned that the Russians had stolen emails and previewed their dissemination, the Russian government, through WikiLeaks and other intermediaries, began their anonymous release of these materials. Papadopoulos’s foreknowledge of the Russian dissemination of the stolen emails raises questions about the extent to which specific individuals within the campaign sought to or did collude, conspire, or coordinate with Russia in the campaign against the 2016 U.S. elections. The Committee has an obligation to determine what precisely the Russians relayed to Papadopoulos, how they relayed it, and, most important, with whom on the campaign Papadopoulos shared this information. The Majority failed to do so, and made no effort to interview Papadopoulos after he agreed to cooperate with authorities.
Question: Later the GOP decided to interview Papadopoulos after all-once he started spinning wild conspiracy theories that the only collusion was British collusion or something-basically the Deep State setup Trump-despite the fact that the Deep State handed Trump the election.
Did the Democrats ask him about these matters in that interview? Review transcripts.