U.S. President Donald Trump slammed Rep. Adam Schiff after the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said the disputed Republican memo on the Russia investigation doesn’t vindicate the president of any misconduct.
Trump lashed out early Monday morning, calling “Little Adam Schiff” 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!” the president tweeted.
Trump’s tweet comes after a slew of Democrats resisted the memo’s release, saying it was misleading, and possibly intended to lay the groundwork for the president to fire senior officials and subvert the Russia meddling investigation led by Robert Mueller.
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The memo released Friday alleges misconduct on the part of the FBI and the Justice Department in obtaining a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page and his ties to Russia. Specifically, it takes aim at the FBI’s use of information from former British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled a dossier containing allegations of ties between Trump, his associates and Russia.
On Saturday, Trump said the memo “totally vindicates” him in the Russian probe.
“But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their (sic) was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!” Trump tweeted.
On Sunday, Schiff said the memo doesn’t “at all” vindicate Trump and suggested GOP committee Chair Devin Nunes worked with Trump administration to draft the document.
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“The goal here is to undermine the FBI, discredit the FBI, discredit the Mueller investigation, do the president’s bidding,” Schiff told ABC News. “From the midnight run the chairman made to the White House to present documents he had actually gotten from the White House to today, it’s all part of the same. And indeed, the chairman wouldn’t answer the question about whether his staff was working with the White House on this memorandum.”
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Schiff was pressed on whether he thought the White House worked with Nunes on the memo.
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“I think it’s very possible his staff worked with the White House and coordinated the whole effort with the White House,” Schiff told ABC News. “Because it looks so much like this earlier effort, which we know was coordinated with the White House by the same chairman, who had said that he would recuse himself, but of course hasn’t.”
On Monday, Schiff fired back at Trump, urging the president to focus on “really anything else.”
“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,” Schiff tweeted.
–With files from the Associated Press
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