Panic Mode: Schiff Accuses Trump of ‘Weaponizing Law Enforcement’ With Declassification of Spying Docs

“Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D.-Calif.) with Facebook founder and CEO Mark E. Zuckerberg (Photo courtesy of Schiff’s official Facebook page)”

House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) lashed out on President Donald Trump Thursday night, claiming the president’s decision to declassify any documents related to surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016 is an attempt to “weaponize law enforcement and classified information.”

Over the past two years, the California Democrat has repeatedly insisted on cable news shows, in hearings and on Twitter he had “circumstantial evidence” Trump colluded with Russia, asserted that there is evidence of collusion on “public record” and that Trump sided with Russia “over his own country.”

In an interview with New York AM 970 radio’s “The Cats Roundtable” Sunday, President Trump’s attorney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, commended Trump for “resisting” subpoenas issued by House Democrats and said he would like to put Schiff “under oath” to determine what he knows since he maintains he has evidence of collusion on Trump.

“The president is doing the right thing and resisting their subpoenas – not because he doesn’t want to cooperate. He cooperated with the special counsel. He gave him 1.4 million documents. We just don’t want to do it over again. We did it. They have it all. Go read it. They want to have a show on television during the afternoon so that Nader can get his face on television so that Cummings can pretend that he wants the truth. He had a chance with Cohen. He let Cohen lie and get away with it. And Schiff, I don’t know what he’s about.”

“Schiff should be a witness. He claimed a year ago that he had evidence of collusion. Direct evidence. Since Mueller couldn’t find it, instead of holding a hearing, [Schiff] should be testifying about it. If I could find a way to put him under oath and ask him what that stuff is that he has, I’d ask him.”

Schiff’s accusations came hours after Trump issued a memo (https://bigleaguepolitics.com/president-trump-gives-barr-authority-to-de-classify-spying-docs/) delegating Attorney General William Barr the authority to declassify and publicly disclose all documents related to the Justice Department and FBI’s surveillance of his campaign during the 2016 election.
Trump also instructed the intelligence community to cooperate with Barr.

“The heads of elements of the intelligence community… and the heads of each department agency that includes an element of the intelligence community shall promptly provide such assistance and information as the Attorney General may request in connection with that review,” the memo states.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders issued a statement detailing the president’s request.

“Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election,” the statement reads.

Giuliani backed the president’s decision to declassify the documents in a Twitter message late Thursday night.

“The President @realDonaldTrump made a wise decision to let AG Barr on the documents. I don’t know for sure but I seriously doubt there’s any national security concern but some of it could affect pending investigations,” Giuliani wrote. “I’m sure AG and DOJ will make a very appropriate decision.”

The intelligence community insists it acted lawfully in the following leads in the Russia investigation, despite using the unverified dossier which was paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign to secure a FISA warrant to surveil the Trump campaign. President Trump, however, has repeatedly claimed his campaign was the victim of “spying.”

Last month, Democratic lawmakers blasted Barr for testifying that “spying did occur” against the Trump campaign in 2016.
“I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated,” Barr testified, noting that he believes it is his “obligation” to review whether there was illegality or malfeasance in the original investigation. “Congress is usually very concerned with intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane.”
He added that “spying on a political campaign is a big deal.”

While the attorney general explained intelligence collection that has been confirmed and widely reported corroborates his assertion, Democrats argue Barr is a compromised witness and that his accusations of spying indicate he is acting more as a partisan advocate for Trump than an impartial law enforcement officer.

“I hesitate to call him the attorney general, he’s really more the personal attorney for the president,” Schiff said (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/schiff-says-bill-barr-no-longer-deserves-attorney-general-title-more-of-a-personal-attorney-for-potus) Wednesday while attending the Center for American Progress Ideas Conference in Washington.

When MSNBC host Ari Melber asked him to clarify whether he thought Barr still deserved that title, he said “no.”

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