President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, calling him “little Adam Schiff” and claiming that he is one of the “biggest liars and leakers in Washington.”
“Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper!” Trump tweeted, referring to former FBI director James Comey, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, former CIA director John Brennan and former director of national intelligence James Clapper.
Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper! Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2018
Schiff responded to Trump’s tweet later Monday morning.
Mr. President, I see you’ve had a busy morning of “Executive Time.” Instead of tweeting false smears, the American people would appreciate it if you turned off the TV and helped solve the funding crisis, protected Dreamers or…really anything else. https://t.co/lVqQRu2Gjl
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 5, 2018
All of the people Trump named in his tweet have criticized Trump’s decision to release a dud anti-FBI memo drafted by House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) staff.
The memo, which Trump declassified on Friday, alleged that FBI officials misled the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) court to expand surveillance on Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Though some Republicans insisted the memo would undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the document ultimately revealed little and omitted key context.
Democrats are planning to push for a vote to release their counter-memo Monday, which reportedly offers a rebuttal to some of claims made in the Republicans’ documents.
Both House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and the White House have indicated they would handle a request to declassify the Democratic memo in the same way that they handled the Republican document, Trump’s tweet attacking Schiff suggests that Democrats may have a more difficult time getting their document released.
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