There are many insufferable Democrats on the Hill, but Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, is in the hall of fame. Schiff is an accused leaker and liar regarding anything relating to the Russians, part of the Democrats’ long campaign to weaponize anything they can to attack the Trump white House. They beat the collusion myth to death, even when it was clear there was zero evidence to back up their whack job claims regarding the Kremlin’s activities during the 2016 election. There was no collusion. Then, the Ukraine whistleblower offered an accusation shoddier than the Russian collusion nonsense, alleging that the Trump White House tied foreign aid to a corruption probe into a Ukrainian energy company with ties to the Biden family. Schiff knew the whistleblower, despite saying he had no contact on live television, read the complaint before it was formally filed, and then used to launch the impeachment effort which failed miserably.
He’s now back in action. This uncorroborated Russia-Taliban bounty gate story has been annoyingly used to attack the Trump White House, despite the intelligence being straight trash. It was a coordinated leak as well. It also showed once again that the liberal media does not know that classified information can be false. There is no rule that such sensitive information is authentic, though that’s news to the clowns who run the newsrooms nowadays. Remember Kim Jong-un being brain dead? That was classified information that was totally wrong. That same band of morons is now saying that Trump was briefed about this bounty gate: Afghan edition but didn’t do anything. Not the case. He was never briefed because those who sift through this information couldn’t corroborate any of the claims. Therefore, you keep it off the president’s desk. Well, it looks like Schiffy’s staff was briefed on this allegation in February, but he didn’t tell Congress, Trump, or other Democrats. He didn’t even want a briefing of his own. I wonder why? Mollie Hemingway and Sean Davis of The Federalist had the scoop:
Top committee staff for Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, were briefed in February on intelligence about Russia offering the Taliban bounties in Afghanistan, but he took no action in response to the briefing, multiple intelligence sources familiar with the briefing told The Federalist. The intelligence was briefed to Schiff’s staff during a congressional delegation, or CODEL, trip to Afghanistan in February.
Schiff, who has acknowledged President Donald Trump was never briefed on the so-called intelligence, has thus far refused to disclose that his staff was personally briefed. The revelation raises serious questions that Schiff is once again politicizing, and perhaps even deliberately misrepresenting, key data for partisan gain.
Asked by a reporter Tuesday if he had any knowledge of the Russia story prior to the New York Times report, Schiff said “I can’t comment on specifics.”
Schiff’s recent complaints that Trump took no action against Russia in response to rumors of Russian bounties are curious given that Schiff himself took no action after his top staff were briefed by intelligence officials. As chairman of the intelligence committee, Schiff had the authority to immediately brief the full committee and convene hearings on the matter. Schiff, however, did nothing. He did not brief his committee on the matter, nor did he brief the gang of 8, which consists of top congressional leadership in both chambers.
If Schiff didn’t feel the need to raise any alarms, it could mean that he too knew the intelligence was nonsense or he was just waiting in the tall grass to weaponize it during an election year. It’s probably both. Schiff would totally use uncorroborated nonsense to attack Trump. He’s done so before and he’d do it again if it means helping Joe ‘my mind is being eaten by worms’ Biden win the presidency. Bonchie at RedState also noted another reason for this leak and the hysteria. Trump wants to wind down things in Afghanistan. That may not be very popular with some folks in the "endless wars" camp:
In the end, it all comes back to staying in Afghanistan, a war we’ve already spent 20 years fighting. While an initial justification to attack the country existed, there’s essentially none left at this point. Yet, there’s a segment of Washington that always benefits from conflicts like this, and they are insisting we stay without any articulated goal. Some Republicans, such as Rep. Liz Cheney, are joining that effort.
What better way to make Trump the bad guy in any potential pull out than to claim that if we leave Afghanistan, we are helping the Russians? You couldn’t script it better.
It’s all so transparent. Schiff knew about all this and did nothing because there was nothing to be done given the lack of veracity of the intelligence. The only reason this is a story now is because it targets Trump and helps keep us in Afghanistan. It’s that simple, and it’s more proof that the beltway never changes.
Ending the ‘long war’ mindset is surely going to torch a lot of people’s wallets and their influence balance in DC. And there are folks like that on both sides of the river.