House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) confirmed Sunday that Blackwater founder Erik Prince did not disclose a 2016 meeting in Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr. and others during testimony to committee members in late 2017, despite Prince acknowledging for the first time in a recent interview that the meeting did in fact take place.
“He did not disclose that meeting to our committee,” Schiff told “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd in an interview. The New York Times first reported on the meeting in May.
“And in fact, as you can see from the published transcript of his interview, he was asked what kind of role he played, if any, in the campaign, and he said he had no role, apart from, on his own, submitting written papers, hanging a yard sign, or making a contribution,” Schiff said.
In a recent interview with Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan, Prince acknowledged that the meeting took place, but gave differing reasons for why there was no acknowledgement of it in the House Intelligence Committee’s transcript of his testimony.
At first Prince told Hasan: “I don’t know if they got the transcript wrong.” He said he believed he disclosed the meeting to the committee. “We were there to talk about Iran policy,” he said.
In response to a question from a member of the interview’s live audience later, Prince said: “Not all the discussion that day was transcribed, and that’s a fact.”
“There’s nothing wrong with our transcript,” Schiff said Sunday, adding later: “The interview certainly looks inconsistent with his testimony.”
“Bob Mueller has that testimony already, and Bob Mueller will have to make the decision about whether that rises to the level of deliberate falsehood,” Schiff said.
Questions about Prince’s candor, Schiff said, “have only been heightened now.” He wondered later of the meeting: “Why conceal it? Why withhold that information if there was nothing improper, no improper purpose in it?”
Erik Prince told @mehdirhasan that he disclosed an August 2016 Trump Tower meeting to the House Intelligence Committee during November 2017 testimony. @RepAdamSchiff, who was present at Prince's testimony, said he didn't.
"He did not disclose that meeting to our committee." pic.twitter.com/rcB1eQPy7R
— Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) March 10, 2019
