When President Trump tweeted on Sunday that Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was a “CORRUPT POLITICIAN” who “has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!” the media and Democrats loudly protested, as they do, that this was a threat.
“Schiff ‘has not paid the price’ for impeachment, Trump says in what appears to be veiled threat,” said a Washington Post headline. “Schiff, Calling Trump ‘Wrathful and Vindictive,’ Sees Tweet as a Threat” The New York Times headlined. “Trump makes ‘threat’ against Rep. Adam Schiff,” was the New York Daily News headline. “Adam Schiff: Trump Saying I Should Pay a Price Is ‘Intended to Be’ a Threat,” headlined The Daily Beast. “Trump tweet was ‘threat’ against Adam Schiff, Democrats say,” went the story in USA Today.
What a ludicrous spin that Democrats and the media pushed in lockstep. When Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said Republicans would “pay a price” for not acquiescing to her demands regarding a Senate impeachment trial, none of these reporters or outlets claimed she was threatening them.
What price, political or otherwise, has Schiff paid for falsely claiming for years that he had evidence that Trump was a traitor who had colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election? Schiff had hundreds of television, radio, and public appearances during the Russia collusion hoax, during which time he used his status as the ranking member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to lie to Americans about whether the Russia collusion story was true.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, he fed information to a compliant media about how this collusion was real. When Robert Mueller ended his expansive, multi-year investigation into the question, he didn’t find a single American who had colluded with Russia, not to mention a single Trump campaign affiliate, not to mention Trump. Schiff never apologized for his lies. Here’s an example of one of his false statements, lapped up by Chuck Todd.
The insane conspiracy theory that Trump won the 2016 election, not by appealing to voters, or running against a deeply troubled favorite of the elites, or by visiting Michigan and Wisconsin, but because he was part of a decades-long plot to work with Russia to steal the election deeply damaged the country. It harmed relations with other countries, it terrified qualified individuals away from serving in agencies, it polarized the country, it fed the delusions of emotionally troubled people.
And it was not true. Schiff was not telling the truth when he kept dripping out this theory to compliant reporters. Because he helped them accomplish their political goals against their nemesis Trump, however, they have not held him accountable.
What price did Adam Schiff pay for falsely telling the country that the process used to secure warrants to spy on Americans was beyond reproach? When committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes tried to find out answers about how the Obama administration spied on the Trump campaign, Schiff fought him every step of the way.
When, against all odds, Nunes was able to put out a now completely vindicated report on abuses in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) processes used by the Department of Justice, Schiff, who had access to the same information, ran to the cameras to denounce Nunes and defend the process. The media ran story after story aping Schiff’s messaging against Nunes and praising and accepting whole Schiff’s response memo.
Now that the inspector general put out a report detailing 17 major flaws with how the DOJ went about securing warrants to spy on a Trump campaign affiliate, Schiff has not been held accountable for his lies.
What price did Schiff pay for lying to the media about whether he and his staff had worked with the whistleblower that was deployed to launch impeachment proceedings? When asked if they’d had any contact with him, he said they had not.
That turned out to be a lie. His staff had coordinated and even provided guidance to the whistleblower before he lodged his complaint. Members of his staff appear to have been quite close to him, in fact. He admitted he lied, but how has Schiff been held accountable for this?
What price did Schiff pay for misrepresenting evidence regarding Lev Parnas, someone he claims he must have testify before the Senate even though he also claims his case against Trump is airtight? Politico reported that he was misrepresenting evidence to make something seem more dramatic than it was. It was a barely noticed story. How has Schiff been held accountable for this?
Instead, the leftist hordes at CNN and MSNBC praised him sycophantically. And even the folks who like to present themselves as reporters also praise him.
Adam Schiff might be the most underestimated politician California has produced. Many in GOP dismiss him as bland/partisan. But the way he has handled impeachment will leave a mark on history, exceeding nearly all contemporaries.
— Greg Miller (@gregpmiller) January 23, 2020
Chances are incredibly high that Schiff personally lied to this national security reporter, who wrote a non-critical book on the Russia collusion conspiracy theory. Yet even he will not hold Schiff accountable.
Adam Schiff “lied about his relationship with the whistleblower. He lied about the transcript.” pic.twitter.com/iFjXyIiBPt
— The Federalist (@FDRLST) January 27, 2020
So no, media, noticing that Schiff has been rewarded for his lies instead of held accountable for them is not a threat. And to say it’s a threat only shows how the media are working far more as partisan activists than purveyors of news.
