House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff is making a criminal referral to the Justice Department for the founder of the security firm Blackwater, alleging he lied to his 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 Mueller’s report on his Russia investigation said the meeting was set up ahead of time.
Schiff said Tuesday that there is strong evidence that Erik 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.
Prince is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and a prominent support of President Donald Trump.