FBI Ignored Dem Whistleblower On Schiff’s Alleged Criminal Leaks To Smear Trump

Authored by Luis Cornelio via HeadlineUSA,

A former Democratic intelligence official warned the FBI that in 2017, then-Rep. Adam Schiff had leaked to the media in an effort to smear President Donald Trump with the Russia collusion hoax.

The whistleblower’s warnings were nearly immediately dismissed, according to a newly released FBI memo.

The documents—first reported on Monday by Just the News and shared with Congress by FBI Director Kash Patel—detail how the DOJ shielded Schiff, D-Calif., from prosecution for allegedly leaking classified intelligence.

According to the FBI memo, the whistleblower—a self-described friend of Schiff—called the leaks “unethical,” “illegal,” and “treasonous.” He was  then told “not to worry about it because Schiff believed he would be spared prosecution under the Constitution’s speech and debate clause.”

Notably, neither the solicitor general nor the attorney general had made that determination, Just the News noted.

Instead, DOJ officials showed little interest in pursuing the whistleblower’s leads, even parroting Schiff’s constitutional defense to justify their failure to prosecute him.

The whistleblower told the FBI in 2023 that he attended a 2017 meeting where Schiff personally authorized leaking classified material.

“When working in this capacity, [redacted staffer’s name] was called to an all-staff meeting by SCHIFF,” an interview report said, as quoted by Just the News. “In this meeting, SCHIFF stated the group would leak classified information which was derogatory to President of the United States DONALD J. TRUMP. SCHIFF stated the information would be used to indict President TRUMP.”

Worse still, when the whistleblower “stated this would be illegal and, upon hearing his concerns, unnamed members of the meeting reassured that they would not be caught leaking classified information,” according to the 2023 interview report.

Patel blasted the conduct as yet another example of abuse of power in a bid to undermine Trump after his 2016 election.

“For years, certain officials used their positions to selectively leak classified information to shape political narratives,” Patel said. “It was all done with one purpose: to weaponize intelligence and law enforcement for political gain.”

“Those abuses eroded public trust in our institutions,” the FBI director continued. “The FBI will now lead the charge, with our partners at DOJ, and Congress will have the chance to uncover how political power may have been weaponized and to restore accountability,” he said.

Schiff issued a meandering statement attacking the whistleblower’s credibility and painting himself as a victim.

“These baseless smears are based on allegations that were found to be not reliable, not credible, and unsubstantiated from a disgruntled former staffer who was fired by the House Intelligence Committee for cause in early 2017, including for harassment and potentially compromising activity on official travel for the Committee,” Schiff said.

He added: “Even Trump’s own Justice Department and an independent inspector general found this individual to not be credible, have ‘little support for their contentions’ and was of ‘unknown reliability,’ and concluded that his accusations against Members of Congress and congressional staff ‘were not ultimately substantiated’.”