Condi Rice to Schiff: Time to finish Russia probe

Former national security adviser and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday told the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee that is time for the panel to move on from its investigation into Russia’s election interference.

“I know you got a really hard job and I appreciate what you’re doing for the country, but I really hope you can wrap it,” Rice told Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.) in a joint appearance on ABC’s “The View.”

“The country needs to get back to business, so that’s my greatest hope is that this gets done,” she added. 

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Her remarks came after the California Democrat described how bipartisan relations on the panel have unraveled, a deterioration that took place in the public eye over the past year as the two sides feuded over the direction of the probe and how it relates to President Trump’s campaign.

Democrats in recent weeks called on House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to remove Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) over his controversial decision to release a classified memo that outlined allegations of surveillance abuse.  

While they eventually released their own point-by-point rebuttal last week, Democrats claimed last month that Nunes was trying to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller with the memo by suggesting the federal probe was tainted against Trump from the start. 

Mueller’s investigation, which has netted multiple indictments and guilty pleas of former Trump staffers, shows no sign of winding down.

Schiff on Wednesday called on Nunes to issue subpoenas on Trump aides including campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and outgoing White House communications director Hope Hicks to compel them to answer more questions. 

His calls, however, have so far gone unheeded by the Republicans who indicated that they are satisfied with the testimony they’ve already been provided.

The New York Times on Thursday reported that the Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that a Republican on the House Intelligence panel leaked text messages sent by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) to Fox News.

Rice, after addressing Schiff, praised Mueller, who she said she worked with when she served in the Bush administration. 

“He is going to do this in a very fair way,” Rice said, adding that she “has enormous respect for him.”