House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff said his committee will submit a criminal referral for informal Trump adviser Erik Prince for misleading Congress.
“There is very strong evidence that [Erik Prince] willingly misled the committee and made false statements to the committee and later today we’ll be making a criminal referral to the Justice Department,” the California Democrat said in an interview with The Washington Post.
“The evidence is so weighty that the Justice Department needs to consider this,” he added.
Mr. Schiff said Mr. Prince misled Congress by testifying that he went to the Seychelles in 2017 and randomly ran into a Russian official close to President Vladimir Putin. The Mueller report unearthed evidence of the administration planning the meeting.
He said the communications between Mr. Prince and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon have “apparently fled their devices,” adding that Mr. Bannon may be brought in for further questioning after previously stonewalling the committee.
“When we asked whether he was asserting some privilege, he merely said he was not answering questions because the White House told him not to,” Mr. Schiff said.
Mr. Schiff said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier this month that Mr. Prince, founder of military company Blackwater and brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, also did not tell the committee about a Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr., United Arab Emirates emissary George Nader and Israeli social media manipulation specialist Joel Zamel.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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