Pence Stands Up to Schiff, Refuses To Declassify Sensitive Info for 'No Purpose'
Vice President Mike Pence has slammed the door on a request from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff to declassify a September call between Pence and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Last week, Schiff called for Pence to release the contents of his Sept. 18 call with Zelensky, according to The Hill, which said it had obtained a copy of the reply written by Matthew Morgan, a counsel to Pence.
The call was cited in testimony before Schiff’s committee by a Pence staff member. Staffer Jennifer Williams said, however, said that during the call there was no mention of subjects that have arisen in the House impeachment inquiry, Politico reported.
The letter said there was no reason to release the call’s contents.
“While the contents of a classified call with a foreign head of state should never have been discussed in an unclassified Committee hearing or an unclassified deposition, it is clear from public testimony that the Vice President never raised the Bidens, Burisma, or Crowdstrike in his conversation with President Zelensky,” the letter read.
“As you well know, a witness answered your direct question that the Vice President never raised those investigations. As such, the request to declassify and release another world leader transcript serves no purpose,” the letter read, referencing the transcripts released by President Donald Trump of two calls between him and Zelensky.
The letter also poked the House Intelligence Committee for writing in its report that it had requested the information from Pence when the request was not made until after the report was approved.
“This once again illustrates the Committee’s lack of commitment to fundamental fairness and due process,” the letter read.
Pence’s letter noted that now that the Intelligence Committee has finished its work to support Democrats’ effort to impeach the president, furnishing information to theoretically help its work would be pointless.
“The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has already voted out its partisan Report and transmitted it to the House Judiciary Committee. Your request, coming after the completion of your Report, serves no legitimate legislative or impeachment inquiry purpose,” the letter read.
“At this point, the Intelligence Committee’s oversight authority is limited to those areas in which it may potentially legislate or appropriate,” the letter read, according to Politico.
The report said Pence and other top White House officials “were either knowledgeable of or active participants in an effort to extract from a foreign nation the personal political benefits sought by the president,” according to USA Today.
According to the report, diplomat Gordon Sondland alleged that he voiced concerns to Pence that military assistance was being used as bait to get Ukraine to conduct investigations into Hunter Biden’s past work there.
A statement from Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short said Pence “never had a conversation with Gordon Sondland about investigating the Bidens, Burisma, or the conditional release of financial aid to Ukraine based upon potential investigations.”
Despite that, the report sides against Pence.
After the report was published, Short called Schiff a “proven liar. And this allegation further solidifies that well earned reputation.”
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