President Trump leveled House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff during a joint interview between him and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trump, 73, was asked by reporters on Tuesday morning what he “hopes to learn” about Schiff if Republicans call on him to testify over his connection to the whistleblower as part of the impeachment hearings.
The president misheard the question, replying, “I’ve learned nothing from Adam Schiff. I think he’s a maniac. Adam Schiff is a deranged human being. I think he grew up with a complex for lots of reasons that are obvious. I think he is a very sick man. And he lies. Adam Schiff made up my conversation with the president of Ukraine.”
Trump highlighted Schiff’s “parody” interpretation of the president’s phone call with Ukraine that he read while chairing a House Intelligence Committee hearing about the whistleblower’s report in the early days of the impeachment.
“This guy is sick. He made up the conversation. He lied,” Trump said. “If he didn’t do that in the halls of Congress, he’d be thrown in a jail. But he did it in the halls of Congress, and he’s given immunity. This is a sick person. He is a liar.”
Trump looped House Speaker Nancy Pelosi into his monologue about Schiff, saying, “By the way, Nancy Pelosi knew he was lying, and she went on her show [with] Stephanopoulos, and she said he told the truth. So, she was lying, too. These people are deranged.”
Republicans have demanded that Schiff testifies about his ties to the whistleblower. Alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella, a 33-year-old career CIA analyst who served as Ukraine director of the National Security Council under Obama, has ties to Schiff’s office. Schiff’s office also knew about the whistleblower’s report prior to it being fully submitted.
Schiff, 59, has denied that he knows the whistleblower. He is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that filed its impeachment report on Tuesday.
