The Atlantic

Adam Schiff Is Back From the Wilderness

The House Intelligence Committee chairman opens up about the Mueller investigation.
Source: Patrick Semansky / AP / Katie Martin / The Atlantic

Adam Schiff was everywhere, until he was nowhere.

In nearly 20 years as a Democratic congressman from Southern California, Schiff has grappled with issues from national security, to intellectual property, to the Armenian genocide. But for the past two years, he has been perhaps the most visible face of ongoing inquiries into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the scourge of the White House, and the darling of cable-television bookers from coast to coast.

That is, he was until he wasn’t—when the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report last spring left Schiff’s sails luffing. Mueller’s conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to charge members of Donald Trump’s campaign team with conspiring with Russian entities to tip the election was a blow to Schiff and his fellow Democrats, who were becalmed by the underwhelming public, political, and media reaction to the end of an investigation that so many of them had hoped would pack a bigger punch.

This week, with Mueller’s planned testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees (Schiff chairs the latter), the congressman, 59, will return to

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