Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) slammed President Donald Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday following the publication of a whistleblower report accusing Schiff of authorizing leaks of classified information meant to damage Trump during his first term.
On Monday night, Just the News published documents claiming that a whistleblower identified as a former Democratic staffer on the House Intelligence Committee reported Schiff’s behavior to the FBI in 2017. The whistleblower referred to Schiff’s actions as “treasonous” and “illegal.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about the report during Tuesday’s briefing. She confirmed that Trump “wants to see Adam Schiff investigated for the countless lies he told the American people in relation to the Russia-gate scandal.”
Leavitt also read off a statement, attributed to Patel, on the issue:
“For years, certain officials used their positions to selectively leak classified information to shape political narratives. It was all done with one purpose, to weaponize intelligence and law enforcement for political gain,” Patel said, per Leavitt. “Those abuses eroded public trust in our institutions, the FBI will now lead the charge with our partners at DOJ and Congress, will have the chance to uncover how political power may have been weaponized to restore accountability.”
Schiff’s office responded to the whistleblower report with a statement, referring to the whistleblower as a disgruntled former staffer and accusing the administration of seeking to distract the public from questions about Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
“Kash Patel’s latest smear against Senator Schiff is absolutely and categorically false, and is just the latest in a series of defamatory attacks from the President and his allies meant to distract from their plummeting poll numbers and the Epstein files scandal,” Schiff’s spokesperson wrote. “These baseless smears are based on allegations that were found to be not reliable, not credible, and unsubstantiated from a disgruntled former staffer who was fired by the House Intelligence Committee for cause in early 2017, including for harassment and potentially compromising activity on official travel for the Committee.”
TRUMP’S DC POLICE TAKEOVER PUTS DEMOCRATS ON DEFENSE ON CRIME
The spokesperson added that “even Trump’s own Justice Department and an independent inspector general found this individual to not be credible, have ‘little support for their contentions’ and was of ‘unknown reliability,’ and concluded that his accusations against Members of Congress and congressional staff ‘were not ultimately substantiated.’”
Watch Leavitt’s press conference in full below: