Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) blasted House Intel Chair Adam Schiff over leaks allegedly out of his Committee in an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo.
While Ratcliffe said he couldn’t talk about a classified briefing he said that the New York Times report that Russia was interfering to help Trump in 2020 was not accurate and he blasted Schiff about the leaks, saying he was helping the Russians by helping to sow chaos over the elections.
From Washington Examiner:
“He’s at it again by putting out, through his committee, information that is false,” the Texas lawmaker told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures. “Look, I’m not trying to be hyperbolic here, but I don’t know anyone in the last three years who has done more to help Vladimir Putin and Russia with their efforts to sow the seeds of discord in American elections and American election security than Adam Schiff has.” […]“We see when there’s a story about — that is allegedly anti-Trump or negative for the president, it shows up in newspapers because either Democratic members or Democratic staffers leak it,” the Texas Republican said Sunday. “The problem is, in this case, they have leaked information that’s not accurate.”
Not to mention, they’re not supposed to be leaking classified information to begin with.
But the fact that it was false and has since been debunked by multiple sources that didn’t stop Schiff from weaponizing it and claiming that Trump had “betrayed America” in two separate tweets again jacking up people on the left with more false information.
“We count on the intelligence community to inform Congress of any threat of foreign interference in our elections. If reports are true and the President is interfering with that, he is again jeopardizing our efforts to stop foreign meddling. Exactly as we warned he would do.”
He also tweeted at the president, “Your false claims fool no one. You welcomed Russian help in 2016, tried to coerce Ukraine’s help in 2019, and won’t protect our elections in 2020. Now you fired your intel chief for briefing Congress about it. You’ve betrayed America. Again.”
Ratcliffe said that Russian interference was made more successful and amplified by people like Schiff and other Democrats.
The issue is why Russia is being so successful in shaking American confidence in the integrity of our elections,” Ratcliffe argued. “And the reason is, it’s because Democrats keep perpetuating and accentuating and proliferating Russian propaganda for their political gain and for their political motivation against Donald Trump.” [….]“All of these things have been done by Democrats for their political gain, but has promoted everything that Russia has tried to accomplish,” Ratcliffe claimed. “And the Democrats have been their biggest allies.”
Schiff falsely claimed that he knew of “pretty damning evidence” of Trump-Russia collusion which he never produced and as the Mueller investigation found didn’t exist. Even after that, Schiff continued to push the hoax, claiming there was “ample evidence of collusion in plain sight.”
This latest leak to the NY Times is just the latest out of Schiff’s Committee. Ratcliffe is not the only one who has pointed the finger at Schiff as the possible source of the leaks. Former House Intel Chair Trey Gowdy has also called out Schiff in the past for “leaking like a sieve.” The president has also called out Schiff over this last leak.
The bottom line is it’s always the same, a leak that appears to help the Democrats/hurt Trump to the New York Times/CNN. There’s an obvious line there and either Schiff is the leaker or he is responsible because he’s not doing anything to stop it, take your choice.
Schiff has also continued to perpetrate falsehoods without any consequence in the media for political gain, like the claim about Russia collusion, without concern about how it might divide Americans or injure domestic and foreign policy. It’s all about hurting Trump, no matter who or what else gets hurt in the process.
The House needs to hold him to account and that may not happen until the House flips. Just one more reason to get out and vote the Democrats out.