House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff slammed President Trump’s remarks about meeting the whistleblower who filed a complaint against him that is now a central part of the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
Schiff spoke to reporters at a press conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, essentially denying the president’s right to know who the accuser is behind the complaint about his July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
(Video: Twitter)
“The president wants to make this all about the whistleblower and suggest people that come forward with evidence of his wrongdoing are somehow treasonous,” the California congressman said, calling out Trump’s comments and recent tweets.
“This is a blatant effort to intimidate witnesses. It’s an incitement to violence,” he said.
Trump tweeted that he deserved to meet with his “accuser” who characterized the phone call in a “totally inaccurate and fraudulent way,” accusing the president of pressuring Zelensky into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings in the country.
Trump wants to meet ‘whistleblower’ to confront ‘my fraudulent accuser’ https://t.co/HdHX0lRJZi
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) September 30, 2019
Schiff announced on Sunday that the whistleblower agreed to testify before the committee and would be doing so “very soon.” The complaint gave fuel to Democrats in their pursuit of taking down the president and led to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement last week of a formal impeachment inquiry.
Trump blasted Schiff for his much-criticized theatrics at a House Intelligence Committee hearing last week as he fabricated a conversation between Trump and the Ukraine leader rather than directly read the released transcript of the call.
An intelligence whistleblower has protection under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, passed by Congress in 1998. Employees are protected, so long as they follow protocol, when reporting misconduct and guaranteed that classified information is not exposed.
The president noted that his “accuser” got the information about the call through “SECOND & THIRD HAND INFORMATION,” and said he also wanted to meet with whoever “illegally” gave the information.
“Was this person SPYING on the U.S. President? Big Consequences!” he tweeted.
Schiff also warned Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about any attempts to block witnesses from testifying to Congress.
“If they are going to prevent witnesses from coming forward from testifying… that will create an adverse inference that those allegations are in fact correct,” he said, warning that any attempts to “stonewall” Congress “will be considered further evidence of obstruction of justice.”
Pompeo had accused Democrats of “bullying” State Department officials and said in a press conference from Rome on Wednesday that, though they would “of course do our constitutional duty to cooperate” with Congress, that he wouldn’t “tolerate” the intimidation.
“That’s unacceptable, and it’s not something that I’m going to permit to happen,” Pompeo said.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has had enough of Schiff’s political games and announced Wednesday that he has signed a resolution to censure him.
Chairman Adam Schiff has been lying to the American people for years. Now he is so desperate to damage the president that he literally made up a false version of a phone call.
Enough is enough. I have signed a resolution to censure Schiff in the House of Representatives.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) October 2, 2019
The White House responded to the press conference in a tweet declaring the “witch hunt continues” as others slammed the Democrat as well.
Hearing the dems say “we will treat this President fair” is laughable when you consider they’ve been attacking & harassing him since election night 2016. The Witch hunt continues…
— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) October 2, 2019
Dear White House,
Ignore Adam Schiff’s silly threats. He’s a discredited liar with zero public credibility. He’s a hoaxer and a liar and should be treated as such.— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) October 2, 2019
You can tune out now. Adam Schiff is speaking and the summary will be available in the fiction section of your local book store.
— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) October 2, 2019
Why is Adam Schiff allowed to stand on television and speak to the American people about anything when he lied to the American people about the President? He needs to step down!
— Diamond and Silk® (@DiamondandSilk) October 2, 2019
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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