Rep. Adam Schiff denies reported rift within Jan. 6 committee.
A report that Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., may be involved in a rift with ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is untrue, Schiff said Monday.
The Washington Post reported Sunday night that, despite their disagreements, Schiff and Nunes have become closer. The paper cited a handful of unnamed sources who said that there was tension and that Schiff was likely to move ahead with an impeachment resolution against President Donald Trump in the House.
At a committee hearing on Monday, Schiff denied that there’s any tension between him and Nunes and said that members of the committee have been communicating without a problem.
“My experience here is that members of Congress who are there to do their job, they will do their job,” Schiff said. “Whether they will be bipartisan or not, I don’t know. But they will work and do their job.”
Asked about the article, the California congressman said in an email Monday evening, “I read the article, and the story did not take into account the facts.”
“As a result, this person and other people decided that this is newsworthy, and they decided to run with it,” Schiff said.
Schiff was responding to a tweet from conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who noted that the Post reported that Schiff had asked his chief of staff to investigate whether the congressman’s staff made a phone call to Nunes after Nunes voted against the impeachment inquiry.
Schiff did not respond to Shapiro’s tweet but said he did talk to his chief of staff about the issue.
“I have spoken with my chief of staff, Dan Backer, and he said none of this has happened,” Schiff said.
Democrats, by and large, are pushing an impeachment resolution against Trump. Pelosi said last week that there’s a “high likelihood” of such a resolution coming up for a vote on the House floor.
Schiff’s comments Monday underscore his criticism of what he called an abuse of process by other lawmakers in the House, especially Republicans. Schiff has been leading the House impeachment
