The man whom Rep. Adam Schiff has hired as the new director of investigations for the House intelligence committee is a big proponent of the discarded dossier about President Trump, tweeting as recently as Dec. 27 that “nothing has been undermined thus far.”
Mr. Schiff, California Democrat and chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, announced the appointment Tuesday of Daniel Goldman, a former assistant U.S. attorney and mob prosecutor in Manhattan.
Like Mr. Schiff, Mr. Goldman is a big fan of the Democratic-financed dossier written by ex-British spy Christopher Steele in a bid to destroy the Trump candidacy.
Mr. Goldman has endorsed Mr. Steele’s tale of how former Trump attorney Michael Cohen secretly traveled to Prague in August 2016 to meet with Vladimir Putin aides and to orchestrate a coverup of Russian hacking.
On Dec. 27, Mr. Goldman responded to a disputed McClatchy news service story that said a cell tower picked up a ping from Mr. Cohen’s phone near Prague.
Mr. Goldman tweeted, “a few reax points: 1) If Mueller knows this, and Cohen came clean (as they say he did), why not plead to lying to Congress about this? 2) critical corroboration of Steele Dossier. Nothing has been undermined thus far. 3) collusion!! 4) big cover-up.”
Mr. Goldman’s conjecture was wrong on two points.
Cohen testified last month to the House Oversight Committee that he has never been to Prague and hasn’t told Special Counsel Robert Mueller that he did.
Since Cohen has been convicted of other crimes and now has publicly turned against the man whom he served for years as a “fixer,” he’d have every reason to say that he’d been to Prague if he ever had and that his years of denials of the Steele Dossier were further lies in service of Mr. Trump. But he has remained firm in denying the Prague visit to this day.
Republicans say the Steele Dossier is a hoax and possible Moscow disinformation. Indeed, the dossier even explicitly cites Kremlin sources for some of its most salacious claims about Mr. Trump. All of its collusion charges remain unfounded.
Those Republicans say the fact Mr. Goldman believes the Steele Dossier is true means he will carry out a partisan investigation. Mr. Schiff himself already has read dossier charges into the committee record.
Mr. Goldman’s Twitter feed also is full of conspiracy allegations against President Trump. He has been an analyst on NBC News and MSNBC, two anti-Trump networks.
On Dec. 21, he reacted to a CNN story that said Mr. Trump had complained to acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker about the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office. It is investigating Mr. Trump.
Mr. Goldman tweeted, “This is beyond improper. We cannot become numb to his misconduct. Trump ’looks bad’ because he committed a crime, nothing else. He is not above the law.”
He ended with #TrumpResign.
Cohen and Mr. Whitaker, under penalty of perjury, have denied discussing the Russian investigation.
On Dec. 18, Mr. Goldman tweeted, “Trump University crumbled in fraud. Now the Trump Foundation is dissolving amidst a cloud of misconduct and fraud. The Trump Organization is also shrouded in allegations of misconduct. Why should we believe our country is run any differently?”
On Dec. 3 he tweeted, “Having prosecuted mob bosses, it’s unfair to compare them to Trump. Mob bosses are far smarter and way more savvy and discrete than Trump.”
Mr. Schiff has announced a wide probe into Mr. Trump, his family and his businesses, investigations that Mr. Goldman will oversee.
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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