#DHS slams Adam Schiff for unfairly broad probe after whistleblower complaint

The Department of Homeland Security is requesting that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff narrow the scope of his now-expanded probe into the agency’s response to police brutality protests this summer, arguing the investigation had become unreasonably broad.

In a letter dated Monday obtained by The Post, Beth Spivey, assistant secretary for DHS’ legislative affairs office, rejected Schiff’s (D-Calif.) request for 11 new interviews with department officials and slammed the investigation as a whole.

“Your letter, which was transmitted on a Friday afternoon, demands that witnesses who have previously agreed to come before you on a separate narrowly scoped matter this week now be prepared to answer questions — on the record — about events spanning the course of three years unrelated to the Portland Investigation, without communicating the basis for which the Committee believes these witnesses would even have relevant information,” Spivey wrote in her letter to the Democratic House committee chairman.

“More fundamentally, however, the Committee has not provided any explanation for its new sweeping inquiry. The letter lacks context as well as any mention of legislative purpose or authority; and is apparently unfettered in its scope,” she continued.

Spivey went on to decry the lack of information shared with the department by Schiff’s committee, saying that DHS had still not been told “why the officials it seeks to interview (in a transcribed manner, at that) have relevant knowledge.”

She also slammed the committee chairman for not providing DHS officials with an informal setting to brief members.

“With respect to the new inquiry, we are unable to engage in the accommodations process without knowing its context, scope, and legislative purpose,” she said.

Referencing the Inspector General complaint, filed earlier this month by Brian Murphy, the former head of the intelligence branch within DHS, the letter described it as “the sole basis of the Committee’s new inquiry.”

“As a reminder,” Spivey wrote, “the OIG Complaint relies entirely on the allegations of Mr. Murphy, whom you personally have accused of ‘deeply troubling’ professional misconduct and lying to Congress in an attempt to cover it up.”

Earlier this month, Murphy accused top Homeland Security officials of trying to censor or stop work related to threats from Russian influence activities or violent white supremacy.

Specifically, Murphy accused multiple current and former leaders of the department — including former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, acting Secretary Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli, the acting second-in-command at the department — of abuses in their positions.

After releasing the 24-page complaint, Schiff announced in a statement that his panel would subpoena Murphy to testify later this month.

The committee was already investigating the Trump administration’s response to the protests, but expanded the probe unilaterally after the “whistleblower” complaint was released.

Just prior to the complaint coming out, however, Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (D-Calif.) accused Schiff of mishandling the probe.

Speaking to Breitbart News on its SiriusXM channel over the weekend, Nunes (R-Calif.) decried the investigation launched by the California Democrat earlier this month, arguing that those in the majority would use the effort to slam President Trump.

“[Democrats are] running an investigation from the Intelligence Committee, which has become the impeachment committee, on the situation that happened up in Seattle and Portland. But guess what? They’re running the investigation to see what federal assets did the Trump administration use and was it legal or not to keep the peace in the Pacific Northwest.

“So they are going to hold hearings, but they’re basically holding hearings to condemn the Trump administration for trying to save Americans’ lives and save Americans’ property and save us from all this looting and rioting and trying to keep under somewhat of some civil discourse here. So, they’re having hearings all right, but for the opposite reason,” the Trump ally told the outlet’s radio show.

Reached by The Post for comment, a spokesman for Schiff attributed this statement to the chairman:

“The Department of Homeland Security’s refusal to cooperate fully with the Committee’s legitimate investigation –despite repeated pledges of cooperation, including by the new acting head of the Department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis — is unacceptable and only reinforces our concern that the Department and its leadership are trying to conceal additional misconduct, and further politicize the intelligence which protects the American people and our elections.

“The Department is trying to have it both ways by making only a select few witnesses available to answer a very narrow set of questions and selectively releasing a small amount of documents in an obvious effort to whitewash serious allegations of misconduct by DHS’s leadership, all while refusing to make available other documents and witnesses who can testify to a broader pattern of misconduct and politicization of intelligence.”