DOJ reviewing allegation Erik Prince misled Congress in Russia probe
The Justice Department is reviewing House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s request to open an investigation into allegations that Trump ally Erik Prince repeatedly misled Congress during the committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
The Department of Justice letter to Schiff, dated February 4, apologizes for the delayed response to the request filed 10 months ago.
“The Department ordinarily does not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation, and you should not interpret this acknowledgment as confirmation of an investigation of any of the matters described in your letter,” it reads.
Marc Cohen, a spokesman for Prince, downplayed the significance of the letter, telling CNN “there is nothing new here.”
“Erik Prince’s House testimony has been public for more than a year, and was available at all times that Mr. Prince met with the Department of Justice during the Special Counsel’s investigation. Mr. Prince cooperated completely with the Special Counsel’s investigation, as its report demonstrates,” Cohen said. “There is nothing new for the Department of Justice to consider, nor is there any reason to question the Special Counsel’s decision to credit Mr. Prince and rely on him in drafting its report.”
The Department of Justice letter was first reported by Politico.
Schiff sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr on April 30 asking if criminal charges should be brought against Prince, the brother of President Donald Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
In the letter, Schiff cited six instances from Prince’s testimony that he said were contradicted by former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election interference.
“The report reveals that Mr. Prince’s testimony before the committee was replete with manifest and substantial falsehoods that materially impaired the committee’s investigation,” Schiff wrote at the time.
In one of the instances Schiff mentioned in his letter, Prince testified before the House intelligence Committee in 2017 that his meeting in the Seychelles Islands with Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive officer of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, was a chance encounter in a bar following a meeting with George Nader, an emissary for the United Arab Emirates.
But the Mueller report poked several holes in that story.
Mueller wrote that the meeting with Dmitriev had been established prior to Prince’s trip, and Prince told Dmitriev he would relay information to Trump’s then-chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Prince and Dmitriev also met twice, first in Nader’s villa and then in a restaurant, according to the Mueller report.
While Prince never officially worked for the Trump campaign, transition or administration, he is a prominent supporter and donated $250,000 to pro-Trump efforts during the 2016 campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records. Prince spent time around senior Trump officials during the transition and continued informally advising the Trump White House on some major foreign policy decisions.
This story has been updated with additional information.
