President Donald Trump took an usual tack Wednesday, claiming falsely that he has never heard of House Intel Committee chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) before accusing him of “presidential harassment.”
“Never heard of him,” Trump said nonchalantly when asked about Schiff leading the House Democrats in investigations against him, per pool reports.
Trump seemed to quickly recover his memory though, asking on what grounds Schiff had the authority to investigate him.
“He’s just a political hack who’s trying to build a name for himself,” Trump continued. “It’s called presidential harassment.”
Trump has previously given Schiff the nickname “little Adam Schitt,” a sure sign that the President does, in fact, know the man who could significantly escalate the Russia investigation.
Schiff hasn’t responded yet, though he did serve up a reaction to Trump’s bashing of “ridiculous partisan investigations” Tuesday night during the State of the Union.
House Intel Chair Adam Schiff smirks after Trump rails against “ridiculous partisan investigations” pic.twitter.com/YoMiTZCjL1
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) February 6, 2019
Watch part of Trump’s comments here:
Trump calls Schiff a “political hack” pic.twitter.com/ZA32rjA6TK
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) February 6, 2019
Step 1 - Begin the answer with a lie.
Step 2 - Continue to lie.
It’s the Trump 2-step.
How about Mueller? Robert Mueller. Heard of him?
Given Schiff’s relentless pursuit of camera time (second only to Eric Swalwell – and at least Schiff is the committee chair, and not just a backbencher like Swalwell), Trump would have been better off criticizing Schiff’s grandstanding, rather than trying to pretend he’d never heard of him.
The thing you don’t understand, Two Scoops, is that serious people don’t care if you disparage them. They have a sense of self-worth that considers the source. You’re the one who can’t deal with criticism. I know it’s futile to try to explain this, but that’s how life actually is. You have one chance: Make a deal and resign. One chance.
Schiff: “Never heard of me, huh? That’ll change soon enough.”