Fox News host Tucker Carlson criticized the CIA and Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff on Thursday, specifically mocking the intelligence agency for a number of historic failures.
The Daily Caller co-founder kicked off his show Thursday night with a monologue pointing out how the agency couldn’t predict the Korean War, or the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also said the CIA falsely predicted that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
“In fact, their biggest success in the past 50 years may have been creating the Taliban,” Carlson said. “If John Brennan had been working for a nonprofit business, there would have been a shareholder revolt a long time ago, and probably criminal charges.”
He then targeted Schiff, saying: “One reason that permanent Washington is so powerful, of course, so resistant to change or oversight, is that it makes alliances with some of the least impressive, but most ambitious members of Congress. Just days ago, for example, House intelligence chairman Adam Schiff claimed his office had no contact whatsoever with the CIA whistleblower.”
Tucker then played a clip of Schiff on MSNBC denying haven “spoken directly” with the Ukraine whistleblower, a reported member of the CIA. (RELATED: ‘Chilling:’ Former CIA Officer Tells Tucker Why Trump Should Ask Senate To Investigate The CIA)
“Schiff also claims to know nothing about what was in the whistleblower’s complaint before it came out,” Carlson said.
“But yesterday [Wednesday], the New York Times revealed that both of those claims were lies,” the political commentator continued. “Schiff apologized in a way saying that he ‘should have been much more clear.’ Right. Schiff now admits his office spoke to the whistleblower, by the way we learned tonight is a registered Democrat, but insists his office did nothing to shape the complaint itself, but why would we believe that at this stage?”
Schiff has been at the center of the efforts to impeach President Donald Trump over his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He incited the president’s anger after he read a fictionalized transcript of the phone call during a congressional hearing, which Schiff later admitted was a “parody.”