EXCLUSIVE — DNI TO SCHIFF: THE TRANSCRIPTS ARE READY TO RELEASE. A big development in the fight over 53 secret interviews the House Intelligence Committee conducted during its Trump-Russia investigation. Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell has sent a letter to chairman Adam Schiff notifying him that transcripts of all 53 interviews, over 6,000 pages in all, have been cleared for public release. “All of the transcripts, with our required redactions, can be released to the public without any concerns of disclosing classified material,” Grenell wrote to Schiff in a letter dated May 4, 2020.
The Intel Committee did the first probe into Russia’s 2016 campaign interference and allegations of Trump-Russia collusion. Even today, its findings make up most of what we know about the affair. As part of that investigation — it was run by then-majority Republicans — the committee interviewed some key witnesses in the Trump-Russia matter: Donald Trump Jr., Steve Bannon, Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates, Michael Cohen, Hope Hicks, and many more.
Transmission of Certain Executive Session Transcripts to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for Appropriate Classification Review in Preparation for Public Disclosure Related to the Following Witnesses:
1. Akhmetshtn, Rinat (November 13, 2017) 2. Bannon, Stephen (January 16, 2018) 3. Bannon, Stephen (February 15. 2018) 4. Brown, Andrew (August 30, 2017) 5. Caputo, Michael (July 14, 2017) 6. Carlin, John (July 27, 2017) 7. Catan, Thomas (October 18, 2017) 8. Clapper, James (July 17, 2017) 9. Clovis, Sam (December 12, 2017) 10. Coats, Dan (June 22, 2017) 11. Cohen, Michael (October 24, 2017) 12. Dearborn, Rick (January 17, 2018) 13. Denman, Diana (December 5, 2017) 14. Elias, Marc (December 13. 2017) 15. Epshtcyn. Bons (September 28. 2017) 16. Farkas, Evelyn (June 26, 2017) 17. Fritsch, Peter (October 18. 2017) 18. Gaeta, Mike (December 20, 2017) 19. Goldfarb, Michael (December 12, 2017) 20. Goldstone. Rob (December 18, 2017) 21. Gordon, JD (July 26. 2017) 22. Grafi, Rhona (December 22. 2017) 23. Henry, Shawn (December 5, 2017) 24. Hicks, Hope (February 27, 2018) 25. Kaveladze, Ike (November 2, 2017) 26. Kramer, David (December 19, 2017) 27. Kramer, David (January 10. 2018) 28. Kushner, Jared (July 25, 2017) 29. Lewandowski, Corey (January 17, 2018) 30. Lewandowski, Corey (March 8, 2018) 31. Lynch, Loretta (October 20, 2017) 32. McCabe, Andrew (December 19, 2017) 33. McCord, Mary (November 1, 2017) 34. Nix, Alexander (December 14, 2017) 35. Parscale, Brad (October 24, 2017) 36. Phares, Walid (December 8, 2017) 37. Podesta, John (June 27, 2017) 38. Podcsta, John (December 4, 2017) 39. Power, Samantha (October 13, 2017) 40. Rhodes, Benjamin (October 25, 2017) 41. Rice, Susan (September 6, 2017) 42. Safron, Jonathan (October 12, 2017) 43. Samachornov, Anatoli (November 28, 2017) 44. Satcr, Felix (December 20, 2017) 45. Schiller, Keith (November 7, 2017) 46. Sessions, Jeff (November 30, 2017) 47. Stone, Roger (September 26, 2017) 48. Sullivan, Jake (December 21, 2017) 49. Sussmann, Michael (December 18, 2017) 50. Tait, Matthew (October 6, 2017) 51. Tamene, Yared (August 30, 2017) 52. Trump, Jr. Donald (December 6, 2017) 53. Yates, Sally (November 3. 2017)
The interviews were conducted in secret. But by September 2018, with the committee’s report long finished and made public, the Republicans who still controlled the committee decided the interview transcripts should be released to the public. In a rare moment of comity, Democrats agreed, and on September 26, 2018, the committee voted unanimously to release the transcripts. But there was a catch: The documents would have to first be checked for classified information by the Intelligence Community. So off they went to the IC — never to be seen again.
Now, in May 2020, they’re still secret. Two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal editorial board reported that the IC had finished its review of 43 of the transcripts, but Schiff was refusing to release them. The paper said Schiff was also preventing declassification of the remaining ten transcripts.
