Fox News’ Sean Hannity accused Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, of being an “old leaker and liar” and colluding with Russians, citing a conversation the California Democrat had with Russian pranksters.
“Where is it? We’ve been looking for a long time. We do have evidence of collusion. Russian collusion in plain sight. Alright, let’s look shiftless Schiff. He could easily be talking about himself,” Hannity said on his show Monday evening. “Remember when he tried to dig up dirt on President Trump from his own Russian sources? It turns out he was being pranked by a Russian radio personality. He thought he was talking with the Russians. A conspiracy, collusion with the Russians and we actually, Mr. Mueller, we have evidence.”
Hannity played a clip of Russian pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, better known as Vovan and Lexus, claiming to Schiff that they had compromising images of a “naked” Trump. Schiff is heard saying that his staff will follow up in order to obtain the materials for the committee and the FBI.
“Collusion, conspiracy, Russians, tape, proof. Where is the media outrage over the attempt to collude and conspire with Russia? Or is it only a crime if a Republican is trying to dig up political dirt and opposition research on an opponent? This time we have the tape of the whole thing. Imagine if we had a tape of the meeting in Trump Tower?” Hannity said, adding, “That was about Russian adoption.”
The Atlantic was the first to report on the prank in January. A spokesperson for Schiff told The Atlantic that the committee “informed appropriate law-enforcement and security personnel of the conversation, and of our belief that it was probably bogus.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin. Trump has maintained that no collusion occurred and has lambasted Mueller’s probe, labeling it a “witch hunt.”
Schiff said this weekend that there is “plenty” of evidence “in plain sight” showing collusion or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.
[More: Adam Schiff: Trump’s tweet on Jeff Sessions ‘an attempt to obstruct justice hiding in plain sight’]
