‘You Don’t Want the American Public to See This?’

Former chair of the House Intelligence Committee and current candidate for Senate from California Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff orchestrated an argument with Republican House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan Wednesday over whether or not to enter in the record the transcript of a closed door interview with a former FBI agent on the subject of the Mar-a-Lago raid to retrieve classified documents from ex-president Donald Trump.

Earlier this month, the committee interviewed former assistant head of the FBI’s Washington field office Steven D’Antuono, who oversaw that search, in a closed-door session. The subject of the interview, some excerpts of which have been released, was the dispute between the FBI and the DOJ over when and how to go about retrieving the documents in Mar-a-Lago.

Essentially, D’Antuono said that the FBI wanted to conduct the search by going through Trump’s lawyers, but the DOJ wanted the raid.

Republicans have cited that interview and mentioned parts or excerpts, but the full transcript has not been made public. At Wednesday’s hearing, Schiff asked unanimous consent to enter the full transcript into the record, and when he was met with some reluctance, offered indignation.

“Mr. Chairman, you and your colleagues have continually cited to Steve D’Antuono’s transcribed interviews using selected statements taken out of context,” said Schiff. “I move for unanimous consent to enter the entire transcript into the record so the American public can see for itself exactly what he said.”

After a pause and some conversation, Jordan replied, “yeah, we will work on that. Yeah, we’ll work on that one. I don’t wanna, we gotta, We’ll talk with the chairman. We want to make that fully available.”

Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler then took the microphone to pin Jordan down, saying “Mr. Chairman, you’re objecting to a unanimous consent request and to some –” but was cut off by North Carolina Republican Dan Bishop, who unlike Jordan actually objected.

Jordan then also did not rule on the objection, pausing again, and Schiff spoke up, again going for the implication of Republicans hiding something by saying, “So, if I understand correctly, Mr. Chairman, you’re happy to cite selected portions of the transcript, out of context, but you’re not happy to see –”

He too was interrupted, with Republican Rep. Darrell Issa addressing Jordan and saying, “Mr. Chairman, there’s an objection. Is there further action?”

“You don’t want the American public to see this, Mr. Issa?” said Schiff for the camera.

California Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell called for a vote, there was some crosstalk, and then Jordan attempted to clarify the discussion.

“I just want to, I just want to clarify for the gentleman. We want to put the transcript out,” he said, continuing to speak over some various interjections from other members. “There’s a couple — we got a little work to do on certain names that have to be redacted for, for obvious reasons. But yeah, we want to, we definitely put the transcript out and we’ll work, we will work with the minority to make sure that happens.”

“I thought it was an amazing interview by Mr. D’Antuono, the former head of the Washington field office,” he added. “We want that information out to the public and we’ll make sure it happens.”

Schiff made one more effort to get Jordan to object to making it public, saying, “Can I suggest Mr. Chairman that you grant the request subject to redactions to protect personally private information?”

“Without objection,” said Jordan. “So ordered.”

ADAM SCHIFF: Mr. Chairman, you and your colleagues have continually cited to Steve D’Antuono’s transcribed interviews using selected statements taken out of context. I move for unanimous consent to enter the entire transcript into the record so the American public can see for itself exactly what he said.JIM JORDAN: Yeah we will work on that. Yeah, we’ll work on that one. I don’t wanna, we gotta, We’ll talk with the chairman. We want to make that fully available.JERRY NADLER: Mr. Chairman, you’re objecting to a unanimous consent request and to some…DAN BISHOP: Mr. Chairman, I object.JIM JORDAN: Ah–ADAM SCHIFF: So, if I understand correctly, Mr. Chairman, you’re happy to cite selected portions of the transcript, out of context, but you’re not happy to see…DARRELL ISSA: Mr. Chairman, there’s an objection. Is there further action?ADAM SCHIFF: You don’t want the American public to see this, Mr. Issa?ERIC SWALWELL: Roll call vote, please.Various:JIM JORDAN: I just want to, I just want to clarify for the gentleman. We want to put the transcript out. There’s a couple — we got a little work to do on certain names that have to be redacted for, for obvious reasons. But yeah, we want to, we definitely put the transcript out and we’ll work, we will work with the minority to make sure that happens. I want, I want — I thought it was an amazing interview by Mr. D’Antuono, the former head of the Washington field office. We want that information out to the public and we’ll make sure it happens.ADAM SCHIFF: Can I suggest Mr. Chairman that you grant the request subject to redactions to protect personally private information?JIM JORDAN: Without objection. So ordered.