Schiff open to Susan Rice testifying at intel committee

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) says the House Intelligence Committee would welcome former national security adviser Susan Rice’s testimony during its probe of Russian election meddling last year.

“If she has pertinent testimony, I’m sure she will be invited as will others,” he said Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day.”

“Whether she has pertinent testimony or not, I can’t say,” added Schiff, the panel’s ranking Democrat. “If she does, we’d be happy to have her come in.”

{mosads}Schiff dismissed criticism of Rice’s decision to request the identities of U.S. citizens identified in raw intelligence reports connected to President Trump’s transition team. Reports that Rice requested the unmasking have caused a stir this week, especially in conservative media. But no reports so far have suggested that Rice acted illegally.

“First of all, what I’m taking issue with is people making the slanderous accusation that she was taking intelligence or politicizing it or urging the intelligence agencies somehow to surveil Donald Trump,” he told CNN’s Chris Cuomo.

“I think that’s nonsense, as she pointed out on Andrea Mitchell’s program,” Schiff added, referencing Rice’s Tuesday interview with the MSNBC host.

Rice categorically denied Tuesday that the Obama administration inappropriately spied on Trump or members of the incoming president’s transition team.

“The allegation is that somehow Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes,” she told Mitchell. “That’s absolutely false.”

Reports emerged Monday that Rice requested the “unmasking” of U.S. citizens in intelligence reports related to Trump’s election campaign.

Americans whose communications and information are incidentally collected in broader foreign surveillance typically have their names redacted in intelligence reports, although government officials can request that the anonymized people in surveillance be identified to better consider the intelligence.