National security adviser Robert O’Brien criticized House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff for publicly undermining Intelligence Community reports that Iran, Russia and China are trying to interfere in the 2020 election.
“It’s really sad,” O’Brien stated during a Fox News interview Thursday. “He has access to the intelligence. He’s seen it. He knows that we can’t release the intelligence, either on Russia or Iran or China or these other countries that are interfering in our elections.”
“He challenges the Director of National Intelligence to release sensitive signal intelligence or human intelligence or satellite reconnaissance that we have, knowing that won’t happen,” he added.
“There are real efforts on behalf of our adversaries — I’ve said this from the start wether it’s Russia or China, Iran or others — to sow discord among Americans,” he continued. “Chairman Schiff’s comments is just the sort of discord that they were hoping to stir.”
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 23: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) attends a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on September 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and fellow House Democrats introduced a package of sweeping reforms aimed at curbing presidential abuse of power. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Schiff said Wednesday that the announcement made by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and Federal Bureau of Investigations Director Christopher Wray “spin” and told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell the assessment shouldn’t be “trusted” unless Ratcliffe publicly releases the intelligence. (RELATED: Russia And Iran Have Obtained Some US Voter Information, Are Attempting To Intimidate Voters, FBI Says)
WATCH:
Ratcliffe and Wray held a press conference Wednesday evening during which they announced that both Russia and Iran had obtained some U.S. voter registration information. Both countries were independently using the information to send emails to recipients in attempts to influence them not to vote, they claimed.