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Trump Mocks ‘Little Adam Schiff’ as House Democrats Push to Release a Rival Memo Committee Votes to Release Democratic Rebuttal to G.O.P. Russia Memo
(about 5 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Trump accused a top Democratic lawmaker on Monday of being “one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington,” calling Representative Adam Schiff of California “Little Adam Schiff” and accusing him of illegally leaking confidential information from the House Intelligence Committee. WASHINGTON — The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday to make public a classified Democratic memorandum rebutting Republican claims that the F.B.I. and the Justice Department had abused their powers to wiretap a former Trump campaign official, setting up a possible clash with President Trump.
In an early-morning tweet, Mr. Trump ominously said that Mr. Schiff “must be stopped,” though he did not elaborate. The vote gives Mr. Trump five days to review the Democratic memo and determine whether he will try to block its release. A decision to stop it could lead to an ugly standoff between the president, his top law enforcement and intelligence advisers and Democrats on Capitol Hill.
The president’s insult came as Mr. Schiff is expected to call for a vote on Monday afternoon for the Intelligence Committee to release a Democratic rebuttal to the classified memo that the panel’s Republicans released on Friday, which accuses federal law enforcement officials of abusing their powers to spy on a former Trump campaign official. Mr. Trump vocally supported the release of the Republicans’ memo last week, declassifying its contents on Friday over the objections of Democrats and his own F.B.I., which issued a rare public statement to warn that it had “grave concerns” about the memo’s accuracy. On Saturday, he claimed, incorrectly, on Saturday that the memo “totally vindicates” him in the continuing investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
The Republican memo, written by congressional aides, fell short of providing enough evidence to make that case and was released after Mr. Trump rejected pleas from national security officials to block it. The 10-page Democratic document is certain to be less flattering to his case. Democrats have said the memo corrects mischaracterizations by the Republicans and adds crucial context to actions by the F.B.I. and the Justice Department in obtaining a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order to wiretap the former Trump aide, Carter Page, in October 2016.
In a separate tweet later in the morning, Mr. Trump praised Representative Devin Nunes of California, who spearheaded the Republican memo as the Intelligence Committee chairman, calling him a “Great American Hero for what he has exposed and what he has had to endure.” If Mr. Trump tries to block the Democratic memo’s release, House rules allow Democrats to seek a closed-door vote of the full House of Representatives to override the president. With some Republicans now arguing for its release, the House could override the president’s decision in a rare rebuke to his authority.
Democrats have denounced the document as a tactic to undermine the investigation and protect Mr. Trump. A White House official said on Monday that it was prepared to review the memo.
Mr. Schiff, who fought last week’s release of that report, has described it as a misleading, inaccurate attempt to discredit the investigation of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. He has emerged as a visible nemesis of the president, appearing almost daily on television to discuss the various investigations of Mr. Trump. “We will consider it along the same terms that we considered the Nunes memo — which is to allow for a legal review — national security review — led by the White House Counsel’s Office,” a White House spokesman, Raj Shah, told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper!,” Mr. Trump tweeted, referring to former James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director; Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia; John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director; and James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence. “Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!” But the memo’s fate is uncertain. Mr. Trump signaled earlier on Monday that he had little good will toward the committee’s Democrats, launching a broadside at Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, its top Democrat. Mr. Trump accused Mr. Schiff on Twitter of illegally leaking confidential information from the committee, called the congressman “Little Adam Schiff” and ominously said that he “must be stopped.”
Mr. Schiff responded via his own tweet, saying, “Mr. President, I see you’ve had a busy morning of ‘Executive Time.’ Instead of tweeting false smears, the American people would appreciate it if you turned off the TV and helped solve the funding crisis, protected Dreamers or...really anything else.” In a separate tweet later in the morning, Mr. Trump praised Representative Devin Nunes of California, who spearheaded the Republican memo as the committee chairman, calling him a “Great American Hero for what he has exposed and what he has had to endure.”
In another tweet over the weekend, Mr. Schiff mocked the president’s claim of vindication, saying that the memo actually backs up claims that at least two of his advisers were colluding with the Russians. Mr. Schiff, who is 57 and has served in the House since 2001, has spoken of his desire to run for higher office. He is the ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee. Automated Twitter accounts, called bots, then appeared to push the “Little Adam Schiff” hashtag on the social media platform.
The tweet came as the president continued to stew online about the investigation into Russia meddling into the 2016 presidential election and whether the president or the people around him obstructed justice in that investigation. Mr. Nunes’s three-and-a-half-page memo centered on the F.B.I.’s use of material from a former British spy, Christopher Steele, in the warrant application to spy on Mr. Page. Mr. Steele was researching possible connections between Russia’s election interference and Trump associates, but the memo said that the F.B.I. had not disclosed to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that he was being paid by the Democratic National Committee and lawyers for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Over the weekend, Mr. Trump said that a classified memo released by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee “totally vindicates” him in that probe despite the fact that several Republican lawmakers have repeatedly said they do not believe the memo has any effect on the special counsel investigation. Democrats have denounced the document as a tactic to undermine the investigation and to protect Mr. Trump, and they have said it is riddled with errors and omissions.
Republicans on the committee voted against releasing the Democratic rebuttal memo last week at the same time they chose to initiate the release of their own three-and-a-half-page document. But several of those Republicans, as well as the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, have indicated that they now favor releasing the Democratic memo, as long as it has been scrubbed of sensitive national security information. Specifically, the Democratic memo is said to contend that the F.B.I. was more forthcoming with the surveillance court than Republicans had claimed. People familiar with the Democratic document said that it reveals that while the F.B.I. did not name the Democratic National Committee or Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, the bureau disclosed to the court that the information it had received from Mr. Steele was politically motivated.
Democrats have said their 10-page memo corrects mischaracterizations by the Republicans and adds crucial context to actions by the F.B.I. and the Justice Department in obtaining a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order to wiretap the former Trump aide, Carter Page. The document is also said to contest Republican claims that Andrew G. McCabe, the deputy director of the F.B.I. at the time, had testified before the Intelligence Committee late last year that the agency would not have sought a wiretap of Mr. Page without Mr. Steele’s dossier of information.
An official said on Sunday that the White House was open to releasing the Democratic memo pending an examination to protect intelligence sources and methods. The president declassified the Republican memo after a similar process, without redacting any information. The F.B.I. suspected that Mr. Page, a former Moscow-based investment banker who was under investigation once before, was acting as a Russian agent.
“Generally speaking, we’re open to considering any document the House Intel Committee submits to us for declassification along the lines that the Nunes memo was considered,” said a White House spokesman, Raj Shah. The New York Times filed a motion on Monday asking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to unseal all materials related to the wiretap of Mr. Page, including the F.B.I.’s application for the warrant and other court documents. Since Congress enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978, no such wiretapping application materials have been made public.
The Democratic memo is said to contend that the F.B.I. was more forthcoming with the surveillance court than Republicans had claimed. Republicans allege that the bureau did not disclose to the court that information from a former British spy, Christopher Steele, that was used in the warrant application had been partly financed by the Democratic National Committee and lawyers for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Monday’s vote was an about-face for the Intelligence Committee. Republicans on the committee voted against releasing the Democratic rebuttal last Monday during the same meeting they chose to initiate the release of their own. They argued then that the memo should first be shared with all members of the House — as the Republican memo had been — before being reconsidered for public release.
People familiar with the document have said it also rebuts Republican claims that Andrew G. McCabe, the deputy director of the F.B.I. at the time, had told the Intelligence Committee late last year that the agency would not have sought a wiretap of Mr. Page without Mr. Steele’s dossier of information. In initiating the release of the Democratic memo, the committee is relying on the same obscure House rule it invoked last week. The rule allows the Intelligence Committee to sidestep the usual back-and-forth between lawmakers and the executive branch over the government’s most closely held secrets if the committee deems release to be in the public interest.
Mr. Nunes, meanwhile, has continued to push forward in secret with what he referred to on Friday as “Phase Two” of the majority’s investigation. He has said he is focused on the Obama State Department and its role in the early stages of the Russia investigation, but offered few additional details.