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Schiff plans criminal referral for Trump backer Erik Prince

Erik Prince testifies before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in 2007.
(Tim Sloan / AFP-Getty Images)
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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) is making a criminal referral to the Justice Department for the founder of the security firm Blackwater, alleging he lied to Schiff’s committee in 2017.

Erik Prince testified to the panel that a 2016 meeting in the Seychelles islands with a Russian with ties to President Vladimir Putin was a chance encounter. But special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report on his Russia investigation said the meeting was set up ahead of time.

Schiff said Tuesday that there is strong evidence that Prince “willingly misled” the intelligence committee. He said at a Washington Post event that the evidence is “so weighty” that the Justice Department needs to consider it.

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Prince is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and a prominent supporter of President Trump.

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