Congressional Democrats are continuing to push a narrative of collusion between former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia, even to the point of attacking special counsel John Durham during his testimony before members of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Kevin Kiley, a member of the committee, said on Newsmax Thursday.
"What was surprising, although perhaps it shouldn't have been, is that you had several members on the other side of the dais, you know, especially from California Reps. Adam Schiff, Ted Lieu, and Eric Swalwell, as well as the ranking member, [Jerry] Nadler, who continue to sort of grasp for this discredited idea of collusion," the California Republican said on "National Report."
That's because there is a "never-ending desire" to prove that there was something there, even though Durham and before him, special counsel Robert Mueller disproved that there was a conspiracy, said Kiley.
"They decided to go on the attack against Mr. Durham himself, who is someone who is nonpartisan and who has had a distinguished career," Kiley added. "Even they were forced to admit that before, then going on and attacking him."
Kiley said during the hearing, he focused on all the statements that have been made over the years by the representatives he listed who have insisted that Trump was an "illegitimate president" but that those claims have been disproven by Durham and Mueller.
"Despite all of this, they continue to cling to this long, discredited idea and I think that's very unfortunate because it has done great damage to our country. the fact that this sort of conspiracy theory was allowed to propel what ultimately turned into a years-long investigation that hung a cloud over the entire presidential administration," he said.
Nadler, D-N.Y., in particular, said Durham's report was an effort to distract the American public from Trump's legal troubles and mislead the American public, and Kiley insisted that was not the purpose of the hearing.
"The hearing was about bringing accountability and, you know, stopping the politicization of our federal government agencies that are supposed to be there to protect American citizens but are all too often now targeting American citizens," said Kiley.
He added that Mueller concluded there was no collusion involved between Trump's campaign and Russia, so after that, Durham was tasked to determine how and why the investigation had taken place.
"Mr. Durham's conclusion was there was political influence and bias from the very beginning, which created the investigation," said Kiley. "Then the investigation itself for years became fodder for partisan attacks, so that's what we mean by the weaponization of the federal government. It's being used for explicitly political ends."
Meanwhile, members of the House voted Wednesday to censure Schiff, with a resolution saying that while he chaired the House Intelligence Committee, he "abused this trust by saying there was evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.”
"What we have in here is a particularly egregious situation," said Kiley. "It's not just that, he said things concerning the made-up collusion narrative. A lot of people did that."
But Schiff used his power of cross-examination as a committee chair, and "abused his position of trust and access to sensitive information to mislead the American public with very damaging consequences for all Americans," said Kiley.
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.