Tensions flare

Partisan tensions flare after Kushner interview

By KYLE CHENEY

Tensions flared among members of the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday as the normally collegial lawmakers engaged in sharp partisan sniping over the panel’s treatment of Jared Kushner.

Kushner, a top White House aide and son-in-law of President Donald Trump, was grilled for three hours by the committee behind closed doors on Tuesday as part of its inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether any Trump campaign associates aided the influence campaign. Afterward, Republicans emerged and largely praised Kushner for his answers and poise.

But on Wednesday morning, the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, reportedly swiped at Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) for what he said was protecting Kushner.

"Mr. Gowdy took the role as a second attorney for Mr. Kushner," Schiff said, per a Bloomberg report.

The broadside prompted a fierce rebuke from another GOP committee member.

“I totally disagree with that. That’s horseshit,” said Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), who learned of Schiff’s comment from reporters after he had just finished describing the committee’s closed door proceedings as fairly bipartisan. After he asked reporters for Schiff’s specific comment, he repeated his rebuke. “I agree with what I said before, that’s horseshit.”

Schiff declined to comment on Rooney's remarks.

It’s a renewal of partisan tensions that nearly unraveled the committee’s investigation in the spring, when Chairman Devin Nunes and Schiff battled over the focus of the probe, and Nunes made a much-criticized decision to brief Trump on elements of the investigation.

Nunes later stepped aside from the probe amid Ethics Committee scrutiny over his handling of classified information — an issue he dismissed as a partisan smear campaign.

Since then, Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) has handled the probe, and tensions on the committee had largely cooled. Until now.

Republicans complained that Democrats’ questioning of Kushner was frustratingly repetitive.

“To say that after three-plus hours of asking questions of which some started getting repeated, then you’re just sort of getting into — OK this guys’ been here long enough,” Rooney said, adding, “I don’t like wasting time.”

But Rooney said the committee has been largely harmonious — especially in closed door interviews without TV cameras or media. Lines of questioning don’t necessarily hew along partisan lines, he said.

“The Intelligence Committee has, I think, always sort of separated itself from other committees in that we’re not very partisan when we’re down there,” he said. “There’s no cameras on. There’s no speeches to be made because you guys aren’t in there and so there’s no grandstanding. People are trying to get to the bottom of what they truly believe might be, you know, an issue, here or there.”

He said most of the tension arises over the scheduling of witnesses, “and that’s not really a fight.”

Conaway and other committee Republicans said Tuesday they were pleased with Kushner’s testimony and found him candid and responsive. But Democrats raised the prospect that they might call Kushner back for more questioning.