Journal on Schiff: No one should 'believe another word'

FPI / May 17, 2020

Rep. Adam Schiff for years repeated claims that there was clear evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, but the California Democrat knew all along there was no such proof, the Wall Street Journal said in a May 12 editorial.

For that reason, the media and public should never again trust anything Schiff says, the Journal's editorial board said.

The editorial was in response to the House Intelligence Committee, which Schiff chairs, releasing dozens of witness interview transcripts and related material regarding its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"Schiff spread falsehoods shamelessly about Russia and Donald Trump for three years even as his own committee gathered contrary evidence," the Journal wrote. The editorial board also argued that Schiff had previously held up the release of the transcripts because they didn't align with what he was saying publicly.

“Most of the transcripts were ready for release long ago, but Mr. Schiff oddly refused to release them after he became chairman in 2019. He only released them last week when the White House threatened to do it first,” the editorial board wrote. “Now we know why. From the earliest days of the collusion narrative, Mr. Schiff insisted that he had evidence proving the plot.”

The editorial included direct quotes from Schiff's television appearances in which he touted his committee's findings of "more than circumstantial evidence" regarding the Trump campaign's alleged partnership with Russia, which he said on MSNBC in March 2017.

“The Russians offered help. The campaign accepted help. The Russians gave help, and the president made full use of that help," Schiff said on CNN later that year.

The editorial board noted that the newly released transcripts showed that several top intelligence, law enforcement, and national security officials from the Obama administration all denied seeing evidence of collusion even as Schiff said such evidence existed.

The Journal noted how "an industry of media fact checkers is dedicated to parsing" Trump's "every word."

The Journal concluded: "As for Mr. Schiff, no one should ever believe another word he says."

Free Press International