In 2017 and 2018, former C.I.A. director Mike Pompeo was working alongside Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat serving on the intelligence committee.
Pompeo was serving during the height of the Trump-Russia “scandal” — and he just appeared on Fox News to lob some bombshell accusations against Schiff.
“Adam Schiff lied to the American people,” Pompeo said on Outnumbered Wednesday. “During my time as CIA director and secretary of state, I know that he leaked classified information that had been provided to him.”
Earlier on Wednesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had removed Schiff from the intelligence committee. Some liberal commentators have described the removal as an act of political retribution, following Schiff’s role in Trump’s first impeachment.
However, Pompeo defended McCarthy’s move as “exactly right.”
“Schiff should be nowhere near serving on the Intelligence Committee. I don’t think he should be seeing classified information,” Pompeo alleged.
“When we provided information to him and to his staff, it ended up in places it shouldn’t have been with alarming regularity, and we could see it. And in the end, I decided, I held back information from them as a result.”
The former CIA director did not specify the content of the alleged leaks. He also defended his lack of action on the issue
“It’s difficult to pin down precisely what happened,” Pompeo said. “It’s a complicated process.”
In 2020, Trump also accused Schiff of leaking information to the press before briefing the president about it.
“They leaked it, Adam Schiff and his group,” Trump alleged, speaking to reporters in February 2020. They leaked it to the papers and — as usual — they ought to investigate Adam Schiff for leaking that information,” Trump said, without providing any evidence to back up his claims.”
Pompeo served as Trump’s secretary of state from 2018 to 2021, immediately after leaving his post as C.I.A director, and he’s been mentioned as a possible candidate for president in 2024.
Schiff’s office has denied the allegations of leaking, accused Pompeo of defamation, and scolded Fox News for hosting him.
“This is another patently false and defamatory statement from Mike Pompeo,” Schiff spokesperson Lauren French said Wednesday in a statement to The Hill.
“While we understand that Adam Schiff is a favorite target for the failed lackeys of the Trump administration running for president, reputable news outlets shouldn’t repeat these falsehoods.”
The intelligence community may be classifying too many records, given the recent scandals engulfing two former presidents and former Vice President Mike Pence.
A day after being blocked from the intelligence committee, Schiff announced a run for U.S. Senate.
Take a look —
MIKE POMPEO: "The fact that…Schiff was the Chairman of the…Intelligence Committee almost ruined that committee…Schiff should be nowhere near serving on the Intelligence Committee. I don't think he should be seeing classified information." pic.twitter.com/3A0iwMc3Dq
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 25, 2023
The Associated Press contributed to this article.