Ratcliffe: Intel Committee hasn't had terror-related briefing in 'over a month' due to impeachment inquiry

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Rep. Ratcliffe says all Americans should be grateful for the death of ISIS leader al-Baghdadi

Texas Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe says the Trump administration 'cut off the head of the snake.'

Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, praised the Trump administration for conducting an operation in Syria that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but said the House Intelligence Committee, on which he serves, has failed to address ISIS or other terrorism-related issues lately because of the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

The committee's chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has been going full-throttle with the impeachment inquiry, holding closed-door interviews with witnesses connected to the Trump administration’s policies on Ukraine.

As a result, Ratcliffe said, other issues have fallen by the wayside.

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“Unfortunately, the Intelligence Committee that I serve on hasn’t been spending a whole lot of time on these issues. We’ve been caught up in Adam Schiff’s secret impeachment inquiry, so we haven’t had a briefing on these issues,” Ratcliffe told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” when asked about what kind of information U.S. forces may have recovered from al-Baghdadi’s compound. “But, I am certain that much like what happened with Al Qaeda, that the documents that we recovered, the treasure trove of information that has already been related by the president, is going to have a profound impact on operations in the Middle East of all terrorists.”

When asked by host Maria Bartiromo how long it has been since the committee had a briefing on terrorism, Ratcliffe said, “It’s been well over a month,” and he could not recall exactly when the last briefing was.

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“All I can remember is one ambassador after another that I’ve never heard of before,” he said. “That’s where we’ve been spending our time, unfortunately.”

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Meanwhile, Schiff celebrated the operation that led to al-Baghdadi’s death in an interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” calling it “an important victory against this brutal killer.”

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Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, continued Ratcliffe’s criticism of the impeachment inquiry later in the program. He blasted House Democrats saying they were putting all of their efforts into impeachment at the expense of other business, while President Trump “kept his eye on the ball.”

“He shows that you can do two things at one time,” he said. “Obviously, our House can’t do that, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats are incapable of doing that.”

Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo contributed to this report.