[inaudible] the committee will come to order. The committee will come to order. Without objection the chair is authorized to recess the hearing at any time. Before we turn to the substance of todays hearing, let me address a House Keeping matter. First, let me remind members should during these proceedings , with the exception of when theyre speaking, take precautions in light of covid19 including by wearing a face cover such as a mask. Were also limiting staff attendance at the hearing. I would encourage and urge unless youre speaking to please be wearing your mask. Were also conducting this hearing in the Capital Visitors Center auditorium, which affords Additional Space for those present to remain physically distant from one another. Before i get into the other housekeeping matter, let me just express my best wishes to the president and first lady for a speedy recovery from covid19. I know were all quite shocked and distressed this morning to learn of their illness. And we hope for a very speedy recovery. Theyll be very much in our thoughts. Alright, the department of Homeland Security and todays witness mr. Joseph maher who leads dhs office of intelligence and analysis or as well refer to that office throughout the hearing, ona, left the committee no choice but to issue a subpoena on tuesday for his appearance at this hearing today. The department has persistently slow walked security clearance requests for counsel from their mr. Murphy, a lawful whistleblower and the former acting head of ina, the Intelligence Community element within dhs in proceedings before this committee. The committee repeatedly offered to dhs that it would withdraw the subpoena for mr. Mahers appearance if the department authorized the attorneys clearances in time for mr. Murphys often rescheduled deposition. Unfortunately, dhs refused to do so. Therefore were Going Forward today with this testimony. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. On august 3, amid public reporting of americans being snatched off the streets of portland by Homeland Security , this committee launched an investigation into serious allegations that dhs intelligence and Analysis Office or ona, an element of our nations Intelligence Community , may also have played a role in the apparent abuses documented in portland. The specter of domestic surveillance activities by the nations intelligence apparatus, which is supposed to be focused outside the country, has setoff alarm bells. Soon after the committee began its review additional serious and credible allegations emerged that senior officials at dhs had engaged in efforts to politicize intelligence efforts. And sought to downplay the threat posed by white supremacist violence. Our investigation is still in its early stages but already the Trump Administration has engaged in the now familiar strategy of obstruction. Despite those efforts, over the past two months, a deeply disturbing picture has come sharply into focus. Time and again, dhs office of intelligence and analysis faced pressure to deploy resources in a way to benefit the president of the United States and his Reelection Campaign at the expense of our National Security. Specifically the committee has information that, number one, Trump Administration officials sought to influence the production of election Threat Intelligence by elevating and emphasizing activity by china and iran despite acute ongoing interference operations by russia. The committee has also learned dhs leaders sought to influence the production of classified and unclassified intelligence assessments related to foreign threats to our election by encouraging ina to report more on china even though they the even though the Intelligence Communitys Public Statements indicate only russia is engaged in active measures to denigrate one candidate and support another and sway the outcome of the president ial election. Treating these three actors of differing intent and capability, russia, china and iran, as equal threats to our election creates a false equivalency. It dilutes the fact the most significant threat to our election is in fact from russia which is seeking to denigrate Vice President biden and boost President Trump. These politicized changes did nothing to serve our National Security but would serve to avoid embarrassing the president with a focus on the dangerous facts of russias interference on behalf of his campaign. Number two, similarly dhs officials have sought to modify the unclassified homeland threat assessment, which has yet to be released to this day. Specifically the committee has learned that senior dhs officials have pressed for the assessment to elevate the threat to our election posed by china and iran which would have the effect of misleading the American Public but again bolster efforts by the administration to downplay the severity of the most significant and active foreign election threat coming from russia. Number three, the committee has also confirmed that dhs ina send personnel deporment at the height of response to protests in the city and ina as an element of the Intelligence Community was asked to the gauge in activity that raises profound Civil Liberties concerns. Specifically the committee has learned ina participated in questioning protesters who were detained by other dhs officers and issued Intelligence Reports on reporters. We have learned that the federal protective service, another component of dhs, seized phones from protesters and asked ina, a member of the Intelligence Community, to extract data from those phones. Thankfully, that request appears to not have been ultimately fulfilled. The committee is also examining allegations that dhs officials sought to modify assessments related to domestic security threats. In service of President Trumps preferred narrative that antifa and socalled leftwing anarchists are the most important domestic threat. This is despite evidence to the contrary and testimony just last week by fbi director Christopher Wray that white supremacist violence now makes up a significant share of domestic terrorism. And this is also in the wake of the president s refusal to fully and forcefully condemn White Supremacists. Its a very dark hour which when some of our leadership in the Intelligence Community is commandeered instead of speaking truth to power. 45 years ago, the committees investigated the abuses of another corrupt administration, abuses that included not only secret attempt to assassinate foreign leaders but efforts by our Intelligence Community by monitoring their political activities. 1975, seems like a long time ago but some of those abuses seem all too familiar today. They produced a series of recommendations including to create standing permanent congressional committees that would act as a check on the Intelligence Community. These are a direct outgrowth of Richard Nixons abuse of the Intelligence Community. Our job today and every day on this committee is to ensure those abuses do not happen again. That is why we have called you hes the current officiale. Performing the duties as Undersecretary Office of intelligence and analysis at the department of Homeland Security. Mr. Maher is here persupt to a subpoena issued by the Committee Earlier this week. It became necessary when dhs slow walk so security clearances when dhs continued to slow walk the security clearances. The committee always expects hearing witnesses to answer its members questions, but today the issuance of the subpoena compels you to answer them fully and completely. Witnesses to an members questions, but today the issuance of the subpoena compels you to answer them fully and completely. In opening our investigation on august 3rd the committee requested documents. On august 19th we requested additional documents as well as testimony from senior dhs, ina officials. On september 9th the committee released a whistleblower complaint filed by the former head of dhs intelligence and Analysis Office, brian murphy, who alleged serious misconduct related to our Ongoing Investigation. Following substantial back and forth the department agreed to make available a number of witnesses for transcribed interviews and to provide some, only some of the documents we requested. However, the department is still withholding the vast majority of documents relevant to this committees Ongoing Investigation and oversight of the Intelligence Community more over, were displayed the department has slow walked thereby denying him the right to have counsel present for a deposition where we could learn Additional Details of his classified allegations. Allegations that the committee has a duty to independently investigate. Some of those allegations may prove accurate, others may not, but we have a duty to find out given their seriousness. We need to find out now and without delay. Because some of mr. Murphys allegations are classified and particularly those regarding the politicization of intelligence related to russian threats to our upcoming election itll be necessary for you to testify at least in part in closed session. Mr. Maher is also here today to explain in open discussion the departments obstructive efforts and to testify to matters under investigation by the committee. Well hold a classified session with mr. Maher following this open hearing so he may further testify about the allegations of misconduct were investigating. Finally, we may ask you broader questions in todays open hearing about the nature of the threats facing our country. That is because you represent an elomt of the Intelligence Community whose spaulkt is to Keep Congress fully and correctly informed of the threats to our nation, and because the director of National Intelligence has refused to appear publicly before this committee or the Senate Intelligence committee to discuss these threats, responsibilities his pred scissors respected on an annual basis. Instead senator rad california has chosen to publish unverified material which he admits may be fabricated before an election only weeks away, an error even john durham seems unwilling to perform. Mr. Maher, we expect you to level with the American People today and to speak truth to power. Thank you, and i now recognize mr. Nunes for his opening remarks. Welcome to another hearing of the trump impeachment committee. Ill begin by noting theres no reason for this hearing to be held in public except to stir up media interest in the democrats latest publicity stunt. Their attack on the leadership of the department of Homeland Security. The only reason mr. Maher is subpoenaed here today is leverage. Its fooforce dhs to rush through top secret security clearances without the appropriate background checks. In fact, there was no reason for the democrats to make this whistleblower complaint public at all. But of course the whistleblower complaints with discretion as this committee had always done before this congress is not helpful for publicity stunts. So here we go again. Lets recall the democrats on this committee were at the forefront of the russian collusion hoax. For years they falsely claimed they found secreteds of trumps conspiracy with russia. They showed memos on the fisa warrant to spy on Trump Associates and even tried to get nude pictures of trump from russian prank centers. They also touted the credibility of the steele dossier, that they had paid for themselves, the Democratic National committee and the Clinton Campaign. They even read the steele dossier into this committees congressional record during hearings in the past. After a two year investigation, however, special counsel mueller vowed to find the secret collusion evidence the democrats claimed to secretly possess. And since then weve learned the steele dossier the democrats championed was a mix of fake stories, rumors, bar room gossip and jokes collected by a suspected russian spy at the behest of the Democratic National committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign. Furthermer the department of justice Inspector General found the fisa warrant application the democrats defended for years was riddled with mistakes, omissions, even withheld exculpatory evidence and relied on a doctored email hiding a Trump Associates past cooperation with a u. S. Intelligence agency. The democrats have not called a single hearing to investigate any of these issues even though this committee is supposedly dedicated to overseeing the Intelligence Community and investigating abuses. Theyve held a hearing on Global Warming but dont care about documented corruption of the fisa process or suspected russian agents compiling political dirt for the Democratic Party. After mueller testified to this committee and again failed to expose the mythical collusion conspiracy, the democrats suddenly switched tracks and impeached President Trump based on an anonymous whistleblower complaint from a bureaucrat who we later learned had coordinated his attack with the democratic staff of you guessed it, this very committee. Despite the democrats insisting theyd never had any contact with this whistleblower. Although the democrats brought our oversight work to a halt for months and completely transformed this committee to an impeachment committee, even holding ridiculous secret depositions that were leaked nightly to their media stooges followed by public show trials with the witnesses they found most useful. The impeachment of the house was such a transparent fraud that not a single republican voted for it. After the collapse of the russian collusion hoax and failure to oust President Trump via impeachment the democrats suddenly ginned up a new investigation, issued their usual slew of press releases and have now forced us into an open hearing. And its certainly amusing although this complaint is supposed to be handled by the Inspector General first the democrats have dispensed with the ig as an unnecessary middleman. Probably because the ig investigations take time, and the democrats are operating on an election deadline. This all has a familiar ring to it. Almost all the democrats are following a play book. I would note usually you dont follow a play book from a game youve lost multiple times, but once again theyre pushing into the limelight a complaint by a whistleblower. Small world. It may seem the whistleblower has some credibility problems. After the whistleblower certainty an email directly contradicting his allegations. Furthermore the democrats themselves called him a liar, just a few weeks before he filed his complaint, even threaten today criminally refer the whistleblower. But now suddenly hes their star witness. Nevertheless i doubt my democratic colleagues will breeze right past these contradictions and the media mouthpieces wont draw any attention to these awkward problems just like theyll ignore the testimony of multiple career officials delivered during the interviews that weve scheduled and conducted over the last few months which directly contradicts their new whistleblowers claims. So here we go again indulging the democrats dream that theyll find the holy grail of scandals that finally gets rid of trump. Without beating him in the election. Of course foreign threats and intelligence challenges dont dprie grind to a halt while they persee these sick fantasies. And this one is clearly sick. Weve had violence all over this country. It involves a bizarre sympathy for antifa. Theyve been burning down many of our countrys major cities. I know some of you antifa has an idea. Thankfully the Trump Administration does not. Yield back. Well now proceed to questions under the fiveminute rule. Mr. Maher, the allegations leveled against your office are credible, serious and wide ranging. They cover everything from abuse of authority and mismanagement of intelligence programs to the politicization of intelligence. Were going to review these allegations during the course of the hearing, and i want to give you a chance to respond as well to other important issues under your purview. Let me start with a few what should be fairly easy questions. Is russia interfering in our election . Yes or no . Youll have to turn y