Schiff questions whether Trump ally lied to House intel panel

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, raised questions Thursday about whether Erik Prince, founder of security company Blackwater, misled lawmakers in his testimony about a meeting he held in January 2017 with a Russian official close to Vladimir Putin.

The meeting took place in the Seychelles before President Trump was inaugurated. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that special counsel Robert Mueller has evidence the meeting was an effort to establish “a back channel” between the Trump administration and officials in Moscow.

According to the Post, Prince testified that his meeting came about only because he and Kirill Dmitriev happened to be staying at the same hotel.

“There is clearly a significant discrepancy” between the Post story and what Prince told the committee, said Schiff, D-Calif.