Jerry Dunleavy of the Washington Examiner highlights one Republican congressman’s negative assessment of a high-profile Democratic colleague.
No one has played into the Kremlin’s hands more than Democratic House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, according to a key Republican congressman.
Rep. John Ratcliffe, a former federal prosecutor and member of the intelligence panel, addressed disputed leaks about classified intelligence on Russian inference in the 2020 election.
“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.”
The controversial classified briefing happened earlier this month and was conducted by Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community election threats executive under then-Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire. During the meeting, sources cited by the New York Times on Thursday claimed Pierson warned that “Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump reelected.”
Ratcliffe said he could not provide specifics about “a classified briefing that was intended to remain secret,” but he did deny the accuracy of the reporting.
“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.”
