Erik Prince, founder of the controversial private security firm Blackwater, big Trump donor, and brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, spent a little more than three hours testifying before the House Intelligence Committee Thursday.
The committee will release a transcript of Prince's testimony within the next three days and possibly as soon as tomorrow.
Prince, also an unofficial advisor to the Trump transition, traveled to the Seychelles on January 11, 2017 and met with Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Prince has downplayed the meeting, claiming he could not remember the man's name and that the encounter had nothing to do with the Trump team.
Walking out of the Capitol alone, Prince characterized the interview as a waste of his time. He demanded that Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the committee, apologize for “wasting all of our time, for wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on a meaningless fishing expedition.”
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Prince, who appeared without a lawyer, declined to answer some of lawmakers’ questions given that the transcript would be made public, according to Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.).
“There are some unresolved issues that are central to our investigation which will become very clear when you see the transcript,” said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.).
Himes said the committee may have to subpoena Prince if they want to ask more questions since he was not going to reappear voluntarily:
“I can’t see where they’d have more questions, I’ve already wasted four hours of my life on that,” Prince told reporters afterward.
He characterized himself as having a minimal relationship with the campaign, according to those in the room — ”a donor and an interested voter,” according to Prince himself, who “wrote plenty of policy positions during the campaign.”
Erik Prince testifies before House Intelligence Committee (The Hill)