On January 3, 2021, as the 116th Congress ended, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Democrats released a statement titled “House Intelligence Committee Corrects the Record About False, Dangerous and Defamatory Attacks Against Staff.” The statement names Professional Staff Member Sean Misko in a dedicated paragraph and answers the Examiner, RealClearInvestigations, and Breitbart coverage by name.
Quote, as the committee published it: the attacks “are all false.” “The unremarkable fact is that in May 2019, Misko was offered and accepted a job with the Committee focused on issues related to the Middle East, and he formally joined the Committee staff in July 2019 after fulfilling his responsibilities as part of the U.S. government team working to end the Afghanistan War.” “Misko had no prior knowledge of events related to Ukraine.” “Moreover, Misko never met with or provided guidance to any whistleblowers regarding complaints they wished to file, including the anonymous Ukraine whistleblower.” “Additionally, Misko was not assigned to work on and did no work related to what became the Ukraine impeachment inquiry until late September 2019,” after the joint investigation was announced and after the complaint was “publicly released for the world to read.”
The same statement calls the claim that staff “colluded” to “hatch an impeachment” or “coup” “totally baseless and false,” and the claim that Misko or Abigail Grace “plotted with other U.S. officials to ‘take out’ the President” “equally fanciful.” This page prints that denial because the rule is to record the subject’s (and the hiring committee’s) on-record response. A committee press statement is not a court finding and not a sworn cross-examination. It is the denial. The allegation cards stay labeled as allegations.