Schiff Grilled on Pushing Steele Dossier: You 'Spread Disinformation for Years'
Anti-Trump Democrat Adam Schiff hammered for lying to the American people
© press
Anti-Trump Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was grilled during an appearance on "The View" over his role in spreading Russian disinformation from the debunked "Steele Dossier."
During Tuesday's episode of the ABC show, former State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus accused Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, of lying to the American people.
She blasted Schiff’s past promotion of the widely discredited Steele Dossier, noting that his credibility is now "diminished."
"You’ve been really prolific over the past few years being the head of the Intel Committee and you defended, promoted, you even read into the Congressional Record the Steele Dossier,” Ortagus said to Schiff.
"And we know last week, the main source of the dossier was indicted by the FBI for lying about most of the key claims in that dossier.”
"Do you have any reflections on your role in promoting this to the American people?” she asked.
© press
Schiff immediately deflected by attacking President Donald Trump, despite not being asked about Trump.
He then continued to promote conspiracy theories related to Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign.
"But you’ve made false, spread disinformation yourself for years by promoting this,” Ortagus said.
"I think that’s what Republicans and what people who entrusted you as the Intel Committee chair are so confused about your culpability in all this.”
Schiff refused to accept the premise of Ortagus’s question.
© press
The California Democrat tried to claim that it was “impossible” to “have foreseen in advance that some people were lying to Christopher Steele” about political gossip.
He failed to say why the claims from Steele - a foreign spy - were automatically accepted as the truth, however.
"None of that is undercut, none of that serious misconduct is in any way diminished by the fact that people lied to Christopher Steele,” Schiff continued.
"No, I think just your credibility is,” Ortagus said.
WATCH:
Adam Schiff defended his promotion of the STEELE DOSSIER by citing concerns about KONSTANTIN KILIMNIK, which are … not referenced (or even alluded to) anywhere in the dossier. pic.twitter.com/dyfh6cJbmp
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) November 9, 2021
Igor Danchenko, the primary sub-source for the Steele dossier, was indicted last week as part of Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election.
