Adam Schiff: Trump’s ‘Fudging the Intelligence’ to Defend Admin’s Handling of Iran
House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) accused President Donald Trump of distorting America’s intelligence on Iran in order to cover for how his administration has handled the situation in the Middle East.
Speaking to CBS’ Margaret Brennan on Sunday, Schiff was asked for his thoughts on the Iran intelligence that he was briefed on last week as a member of the Gang of Eight. Schiff said Defense Secretary Mark Esper was “just plain wrong” with his assessments on Iran’s alleged threat to attack American embassies, and he also said the briefing failed to define an imminent attack that was planned before the fatal airstrike against Qasem Soleimani.
“When you hear the president out there on Fox, he is fudging the intelligence,” Schiff said. “When you hear the [Esper] say, ‘Well, that wasn’t what the intelligence said, but that’s my personal belief,’ he is fudging. When Secretary [Mike] Pompeo was on your show last week and made the claim that the intelligence analysis was that taking Soleimani out would improve our security and leaving him in would make us less safe, that is also fudging. That is not an intelligence conclusion, that’s Pompeo’s personal opinion.”
On Trump, Schiff was referring to the president’s interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham where he claimed without evidence that four embassies were under threat from Iran. Schiff was also referring to the multiple recent instances where Pompeo claimed an attack Iran was “imminent” before the Soleimani strike, but can’t say when or where they would’ve hit.
Schiff’s interview came after Esper appeared on Face The Nation and said Iran was “probably” planning to attack multiple embassies, but he “didn’t see” specific evidence to prove that. When asked if the administration was “lying” about Iran, Schiff answered “they are overstating and exaggerating what the intelligence shows.
“When you talk about justifying acts that might bring us into warfare with Iran, that is a dangerous thing to do,” Schiff said.
Watch above, via CBS.
