President Trump lashed out Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, hours after the release of his Democratic rebuttal to the memo of the Republican majority that alleged government surveillance abuses.
Trump called into “Justice with Judge Jeanine” on Fox News on Saturday and expounded upon on his prior accusation that Schiff has leaked confidential information to reporters after committee meetings.
“It’s probably illegal to do it,” Trump said. “He’ll have a committee meeting and leak all sorts of information. He’s a bad guy. But the memo was nothing.”
Schiff, D-Calif., responded in real time via Twitter, saying he was proud to be a “bad hombre,” a reference to Trump’s risque comment during the final 2016 presidential debate: “We have some bad hombres and we’re going to get them out.”
The President just went on Fox to complain about the facts we set out in the Democratic memo. He called me “a bad guy.” All I can say is — I’m proud to be a bad hombre.
— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiffCA) February 25, 2018
Schiff had earlier taunted Trump on Twitter over the nicknames the president has given the top House Intelligence Committee Democrat.
Wait a minute, Mr. President. Am I a phony, or sleazy, a monster or little? Surely you know the key to a good playground nickname is consistency. I thought you were supposed to be good at this. https://t.co/v44q2CTFxX
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 25, 2018
When asked what he thought of the tweet, Trump shifted to talking about how the nation needs to be unified, and then went back to slamming Schiff for getting pranked by Russian comedians who claimed to have nude photos of the president.
“We need intelligence that brings our nation together,” Trump explained. “And a lot of people are tearing our nation apart on this and other subjects. They are tearing our nation apart … He got scammed by somebody pretending to be Russian.”
Trump questioned why Schiff got off so easily for speaking with the Russian pranksters who pretended to be a Ukranian politician, in contrast to the scrutiny his campaign and transition team are getting due to some members’ contacts with Russians.
“It’s OK for them to be dealing, but if we have any kind of contact with anybody, even though it has nothing to do with anything important, it’s a big deal,” Trump said.
“So we have to bring the country together. And what’s happening is this and other things are ripping it apart,” he said of the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.
Trump also alleged during the interview that the Democratic memo was “nothing.”
The memo, which was released Saturday afternoon, was written to provide greater context to the Republican memo that was released earlier this month. The Republican memo alleged surveillance abuses by the FBI and Department of Justice against the Trump campaign. The Democratic memo pushes back on those claims.
