The following article by Noah Bierman was posted on the Los Angeles Times website February 5, 2018:
President Trump flashed anger at one of his leading antagonists in the Russia probe, mocking Rep. Adam Schiff’s personal appearance and accusing him without evidence of illegally leaking “confidential information.”
The attack comes as Schiff (D-Burbank), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, continues his efforts to rebut Republican criticism of the investigation into Trump’s associates and their possible ties to Russian meddling in the 2016 election. On Monday, Schiff plans to try to win public release of a Democratic answer to a Republican memo released Friday that attempted to undermine one aspect of the investigation.
In a morning tweet, Trump labeled Schiff “little,” an insult he has used on others, and called him “one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper!”
James Comey is the former FBI director fired by Trump; Sen. Mark Warner is the Virginia Democrat who serves as the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee; John Brennan is a former CIA director; James Clapper is the former director of national intelligence.
All of the men have been critical of the release of the GOP memo, charging that it cherry-picked details from classified documents to paint a false picture of the FBI investigation into Carter Page, a former Trump campaign advisor.
Trump has seized on the memo to claim that the investigation is politically motivated. He has hinted at times that he could use the memo as a justification to fire top law enforcement officials, a course that several Republicans have warned against.
Shortly after the tweet attacking Schiff, Trump sent another that praised the chief author of the Republican memo, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare).
Later in the day, a White House spokesperson declined to commit when asked if Trump would agree to the release of the Democrats’ rebuttal memo. Like the GOP memo, the Democratic document draws on classified material, so the White House could object to its release.
The Democratic memo “appears to be up for a vote later today in the House Intelligence Committee. If that memo is voted out, and it comes to the White House, we will consider it on the same terms we considered the Nunes memo,” White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah told reporters. “Which is, to allow for a legal review, national security review led by the White House Counsel’s Office.”
UPDATE
11:30 a.m.: This post was updated with comments from the White House.
View the post here.