Speaking in the wake of a bombshell revelation that a Democratic staffer and whistleblower on the Intelligence Committee in the Russiagate days had accused then-Rep. Adam Schiff of “treasonous” behavior in leaking classified information to harm PresidentTrump, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt chimed in and sounded off on the now-senator’s misdeeds.
For reference, the released documents about what the whistleblower claims then-Rep. Schiff greenlit the release of classified information at an all-hands committee meeting. It began, “When working in this capacity, [redacted staffer’s name] was called to an all-staff meeting by SCHIFF.” Continuing, it added, “In this meeting, SCHIFF stated the group would leak classified information which was derogatory to President of the United States DONALD J. TRUMP. SCHIFF stated the information would be used to indict President TRUMP.”
The whistleblower then spoke out about the illegal nature of what the congressman was saying, but other individuals there chimed in to downplay his concerns: “[The whistleblower] stated this would be illegal and, upon hearing his concerns, unnamed members of the meeting reassured that they would not be caught leaking classified information.”
It was about that matter that Press Secretary Leavitt spoke on Tuesday, August 12, calling the released report a “bombshell” and calling on the media to cover it rather than covering it up. She began, “This is obviously a bombshell whistleblower report.” She continued, “Hopefully more people in this room will cover it as such.”
Continuing, Karoline Leavitt summarized the allegations, saying, “I understand Kash Patel, last night, declassified a 302 FBI document showing that a whistleblower, who is a Democrat, a career intelligence officer who worked for Democrats on the House Intel Committee for more than a decade, repeatedly warned the FBI in 2017 that then-Rep. Adam Schiff had approved leaking classified information to smear then President Donald Trump over the Russiagate scandal.”
Building on that, Leavitt went on to quote from FBI Director Kash Patel, who had commented on the absolute plague America has of senior officials leaking information to aid their special interests. Doing so, she said, “‘for years certain officials used their positions to selectively leak classified information to shape political narratives.'”
Continuing to quote Patel, Leavitt said, “‘It was all done with one purpose: to weaponize intelligence and law enforcement for political gain. Those abuses eroded public trust in our institutions. The FBI will now lead the charge with our partners at DOJ, and Congress will have the chance to uncover how political power may have been weaponized and to restore accountability.'”
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Then, wrapping things up by commenting on the president’s viewpoint on the matter, which is that Schiff should face prosecution, Leavitt said that President Trump “has already said he wants to see Adam Schiff held accountable for the countless lies he told the American people in relation to the Russiagate scandal.”
Watch her here:
Freaking out in response, a staffer for now-Sen. Schiff said, “These baseless smears are based on allegations that were found to be not reliable, not credible, and unsubstantiated from a disgruntled former staffer who was fired by the House Intelligence Committee for cause in early 2017, including for harassment and potentially compromising activity on official travel for the Committee.”
Continuing, the spokesperson said, “Even Trump’s own Justice Department and an independent inspector general found this individual to not be credible, have ‘little support for their contentions’ and was of ‘unknown reliability,’ and concluded that his accusations against Members of Congress and congressional staff ‘were not ultimately substantiated.'”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video