President Donald Trump said Friday that he has serious concerns about sharing intelligence with Democratic leaders because of lawmakers like “crooked, corrupt” California Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the congressman who led the impeachment inquiry.
Speaking of the recent attack that he ordered killing Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, “Can you imagine they want us to come up and speak to crooked, corrupt politician Adam Schiff? ‘Oh, Adam, we have somebody we have been trying to get for a long time. We have a shot at him right now. Can we meet to get your approval, Adam Schiff? Well, let’s do it in a couple of days.’ Oh, okay, it doesn’t work that way.”
During a Toledo, Ohio rally on Thursday Trump said Democrats cannot be trusted to share intelligence with before a major action because they “call up the fake news” and share the information.
Trump suggested again during the Friday interview that Democrats leak intelligence to friendly media. “They leak. Anything we give will be leaked immediately,” he told “The Ingraham Angle.” (RELATED: ‘You Little Pencil Neck,’ Trump Criticizes Adam Schiff At Toledo, Ohio Rally)
Ingraham asked Trump why the national security briefing offered to Congress this week had failed to impress not only House Speaker Nancy Pelosi but Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee.
“He is a great supporter and a friend that called me a little while ago. He said I wanted to get more information. Look, I have also had calls from the senators, congressmen who said it was the single best briefing … they ever had.” (RELATED: Michael Moore Offers Personal Assistance To Iran To ‘Fix This Peacefully’)
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 27: Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, questions Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on September 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Kavanaugh was called back to testify about claims by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her during a party in 1982 when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. (Photo by Andrew Harnik – Pool/Getty Images)
Lee left the briefing in a rage, saying, “What I found so distressing about that briefing was that one of the messages we received from the briefers was, ‘Do not debate. Do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran. And then if you do, you’ll be emboldening Iran,’” Lee told reporters in a scrum after he left the briefing.
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio disagreed, saying he was entirely satisfied with the briefing and suggesting people who weren’t “just oppose everything [President Donald] Trump does.”