Rep. Adam Schiff once again claimed he does not know the identity of the whistleblower who sparked the impeachment process against President Donald Trump.
The lead House impeachment manager in the Senate trial made the claim before lawmakers on Wednesday, prompting a rebuke from House Republicans and others for intentionally misleading the public.
(Source: MSNBC)
In a question-and-answer portion of the Senate impeachment trial on Wednesday, Schiff asserted that he didn’t know who the whistleblower is and that this person was not coached in any way by a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
“Let me be clear about several things about the whistleblower. First of all, I don’t know who the whistleblower is,” the California Democrat began in response to a question from Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., about the political bias of the whistleblower as well as any relationship with former Vice President Joe Biden.
“I haven’t met them or communicated with them in any way. The committee staff did not write the complaint or coach the whistleblower what to put in the complaint. The committee staff did not see the complaint before it was submitted to the inspector general,” he claimed.
“The committee, including its staff, did not receive the complaint until the night before,” Schiff continued. “We had an open hearing with the active [intelligence] director on September 26, more than three weeks after the legal deadline by which the committee should have received the complaint.”
Schiff also referred to the allegations of his involvement behind the scenes as a “conspiracy theory.”
“In short, the conspiracy theory, which I think was outlined earlier that the whistleblower colluded with the Intel Committee staff to hatch an impeachment inquiry is a complete and total fiction,” he said.
House Republicans called Schiff out and shared a video compilation of the Democrat’s record of dishonesty.
Adam Schiff just claimed on the Senate floor that he doesn’t know the identity of the whistleblower.
Let’s go to the tape on that and the other examples of his deliberate efforts to mislead the public. pic.twitter.com/RCgadvPgd0
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) January 29, 2020
White House deputy counsel Patrick Philbin noted that interactions between the Schiff’s team and the whistleblower are still “shrouded in secrecy.”
“It is something, to an unknown extent, may have been addressed in the testimony of the inspector general of the intelligence community before Chairman Schiff’s committees, but that testimony, contacts with the whistleblower, contacts with Manager Schiff’s staff and the whistleblower, are shrouded in secrecy to this day,” Philbin responded to a question.
“We don’t know what the testimony of the IC IG was. It remains secret. It has not been forwarded,” he said. “We don’t know what Manager Schiff’s staff contact with the whistleblower have been and what connections there are there. It’s something that would seem to be relevant since the whistleblower started this entire inquiry.”
Patrick Philbin: reports of contact between the whistleblower and Schiff’s staff are “shrouded in secrecy”https://t.co/7qFm7CGNmF pic.twitter.com/PDpSNs3p9z
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 29, 2020
“It’s obviously something that, to get to the bottom of motivations, bias, how this inquiry was created, could potentially be relevant,” Philbin added.
New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin and Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina also called Schiff out for “twisting the truth” and providing another “parody” account of events, once again misquoting the Ukraine call transcript, saying, “Do me a favor.”
Schiff can’t help himself. He just said “Do ME a favor” in his new parody hypothetical. He refuses to shoot straight. The President never said “Do ME a favor”. He said “Do US a favor”. It’s crazy how Schiff keeps finding new lows twisting the truth with such ease.
— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) January 29, 2020
Wow. Adam Schiff just misquoted President Trump *again.*
He told the Senate President Trump asked President Zelensky to “do me a favor.”
The truth, what @realDonaldTrump really said: “do US a favor.”
He was talking about the country!
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) January 29, 2020
While Schiff continued to declare that the whistleblower was found “credible” by the intelligence community’s inspector general, he has refused to release his committee’s transcript of its IG interview.
BREAKING: Schiff just confirmed he did in fact classify & seal ICIG Atkinson’s testimony transcript, but he maintains he did so to protect “sensitive” info. Republicans say he is trying to hide revelation ICIG never investigated prior contacts b/t “whistleblower” & Schiff’s staff
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) January 29, 2020
Republican lawmakers and others slammed Schiff over his lack of credibility.
Stunning that Adam Schiff lies to millions of Americans when he says he doesn’t know the identity of the whistleblower.
He absolutely knows the identity of the whistleblower b/c he coordinated with the individual before the whistleblower’s complaint! His staff helped write it!
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 29, 2020
Sept 17: We would love to talk with the whistleblower.
Sept 29: We’ll get the unfiltered testimony of the whistleblower.
Oct 13: Given that we already have the call record, we don’t need the whistleblower—who wasn’t on the call—to tell us what took place during the call. pic.twitter.com/zNg7BQQ9ho
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 29, 2020
There’s a ZERO percent chance Adam Schiff doesn’t know the identity of the whistleblower.
How does he lie so easily? It’s really quite remarkable. He’s prosecuting the Pres of the United States in front of the Chief Justice & these lies just keep flowing right out of his mouth.
— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) January 29, 2020
Interestingly enough, @RepAdamSchiff dodged the question about the whistleblower’s reported political bias.
We shouldn’t be surprised.
Schiff has never been completely honest with us about his staff’s contact with the whistleblower.
Remember this? https://t.co/QFAVy7QcsV https://t.co/o8fbzkIwuC
— Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) January 29, 2020
How is it that EVERY SINGLE reporter and political operative in Washington, DC knows who the “whistleblower” is, yet Adam Schiff claims he doesn’t?
For Schiff to insist he has no idea who the whistleblower is, when half of Washington DC knows, is to show both the Senate & the country he’s a smooth-talking, bald-faced liar. That should be enough to discount or disregard pretty much everything he’s said #ImpeachmentTrial
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) January 29, 2020
The pencil neck geek has no credibility #FullOfSchiff https://t.co/3LOoGUZAWA— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) January 29, 2020
From colleague Marisa Schultz: GOP MO Sen Hawley on Schiff denying he has met the whistleblower: I don’t believe anything he says on that because he’s lied and changed his positions multiple times, which is just weird. I mean why would you do that?
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 30, 2020
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