#Schiff will reportedly probe DHS intel branch after Portland protests

WASHINGTON — The House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Rep. Adam Schiff, is opening an investigation into how the Department of Homeland Security responded to protests over police brutality, according to a new report.

The probe will focus specifically on the department’s intelligence arm which reportedly distributed material on both reporters and demonstrations who were present at protests in Portland and other US cities, according to a Politico report.

“The revelations thus far require a full accounting, and, if substantiated, must never be allowed to occur again,” Schiff (D. Calif) wrote to top DHS officials on Monday, per the report.

DHS accessed in July encrypted messages from protesters on the secured app Telegram, according to a Washington Post report — prompting a statement from Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf disavowing the actions from his intelligence branch.

But Wolf’s deputy Ken Cuccinelli reportedly pushed for less internal oversight of the department’s intel branch in the months before the protests, according to a Politico report, cited by Schiff.

The Trump administration has faced fierce scrutiny for its decision to deploy more than 100 federal troops to Portland last month to disperse violent demonstrations where protesters tried multiple times to torch a federal court house and injured a handful of officers.