Pelosi defends Schiff after Republicans call for resignation

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office defended House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Monday as Republicans called for him to resign after a summary of the Mueller probe by Attorney General William Barr said there was no evidence of conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016.

GOP critics of Schiff, including White House adviser Kellyanne Conway and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), allege he pushed a false narrative throughout special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe that President Trump’s campaign coordinated with Moscow.

{mosads}Pelosi’s office defended Schiff by praising his performance as committee chairman and dismissing the criticisms as partisan attacks.

“Chairman Schiff has done an outstanding job and that’s the reason why he’s subject to these ridiculous attacks,” Pelosi spokeswoman Ashley Etienne told The Hill in a statement.

“Democrats aren’t going to be intimidated by the White House or Congressional Republicans, we’re not going to be distracted from securing the release of the full Mueller report and the underlying evidence, and we will continue to pursue legitimate oversight because that’s what the Constitution requires,” she added. “The days of Congress ignoring the mountain of legal and ethical misconduct by this President and Administration are over.”

Conway told Fox News that Schiff “ought to resign today,” adding he’s been on “every TV show 50 times a day for practically the last two years, promising Americans that this president would either be impeached or indicted.”

McCarthy said in an interview with Politico that “Schiff has met the standard that he has imposed on other members of Congress of when they should step back from their positions. He has exceeded that standard, and there is no question he should step down from the Intel chairmanship.”