Congressman Adam Schiff fires back at US President Donald Trump as House allows release of Dem countermemo

Adam Schiff, Democrat ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence arrives for a committee meeting at the US Capitol February 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

Congressman Adam Schiff has fired back at US President Donald Trump after the president called him "one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington," claiming the congressman is illegally leaking confidential information from the House Intelligence Committee.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper! Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!

1:39 PM - Feb 5, 2018

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Schiff quickly responded to the president on Twitter.

Adam Schiff

✔@RepAdamSchiff

Mr. President, I see you’ve had a busy morning of “Executive Time.” Instead of tweeting false smears, the American people would appreciate it if you turned off the TV and helped solve the funding crisis, protected Dreamers or...really anything else. https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/960492998734868480 …

2:58 PM - Feb 5, 2018

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Trump’s insulting tweet comes for the reason that Schiff called for a successful vote so the Intelligence Committee could release a Democratic rebuttal to a classified memo that the Committee’s Republican members released on Friday which accused federal law enforcement officials of abusing their powers to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

The release of the four-page document prompted senior Democrats to denounce the controversial memo as an inaccurate and misleading portrait misrepresenting sensitive government information through omissions and inaccuracies intended to undermine the ongoing Russia probe against Trump. They warned Trump, in a written statement, not to use it as a "pretext" to fire special counsel Robert Mueller or the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein.

President Trump declassified the document over the objections of the FBI, which had expressed “grave concerns” over its accuracy in a rare public break from the White House.

Over the weekend, Trump said that the classified GOP memo “totally vindicates” him in the ongoing Russia probe. Schiff said this past weekend that the memo does “quite the opposite,” and multiple Republicans said Sunday that the memo does not vindicate Trump.

Schiff also warned Sunday that Trump is trying to turn the Department of Justice into a “personal political tool.”

House Committee votes to release Democratic countermemo

The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday evening to make public the Democratic memo rebutting GOP allegations that the FBI abused surveillance laws.

The 10-page classified document now goes to President Trump who has five days to block or approve its release.

A decision to stop it could lead to a fierce standoff between the president, his top law enforcement and intelligence advisers, and Democrats on Capitol Hill.

If Trump attempts to block the Democratic memo’s release, House rules allow Democrats to seek a closed-door vote of the full House of Representatives to override the president. With some Republicans now arguing for its release, the House could override the president’s decision in a rare rebuke to his authority.