Media top headlines November 12
In media news today, the media pounces on the Rittenhouse trial judge over his ringtone and supply chain joke, Barstool's Dave Portnoy rips into Insider's 'hit piece' against him, and Kyle Rittenhouse's mother slams Joe Biden for 'defaming' her son
Bloomberg columnist Eli Lake picked apart Rep. Adam Schiff's, D-Calif., new book "Midnight in Washington" this week, blasting him for misleading readers on what he actually knew about alleged Russian collusion by the Trump campaign in the 2016 presidential election.
Writing a review of the book in Commentary magazine, Lake referred to Schiff as a "showman playing the role of a statesman," and suggested that "a more honest author" would have apologized to those he falsely accused of wrongdoing throughout the Russia investigation and reflected on his actions that damaged his case for Trump's impeachment.
FILE PHOTO: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) arrives for a national security briefing before members of the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., March 10, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo (REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo)
ADAM SCHIFF'S DISGRACEFUL LEGACY
"Adam Schiff was one of the star attractions at Donald Trump's first impeachment trial … He was a showman playing the role of a statesman," Lake wrote, before detailing how Schiff's new book centers on the scandal following alleged attempts by Trump to pressure Ukraine into investigating President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
"The whole affair was a gift from heaven for the Democratic congressman … Schiff claimed to be in possession of evidence proving that Trump’s 2016 campaign conspired with Russia," Lake wrote. "When special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation yielded no evidence of such a conspiracy, Schiff looked ridiculous—the supposedly dogged prosecutor had suddenly become the boy who cried collusion."
Lake described how Schiff spent most of the memoir acting as if he actually revealed a Trump-Russia collusion scandal, all while ignoring evidence debunking the accusations against the former president.
Adam Schiff presenting at Donald Trump's first impeachment trial. (Senate Television via AP) (Senate Television via AP)
He added that Schiff never even made mention of Michael Horowitz, the FBI inspector general who uncovered abuses within the agency's surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, and maintained that his House Intelligence Committee, along with other investigations, actually did find evidence of collusion. It just couldn't be prosecuted because there wasn't enough evidence uncovered by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to Schiff.
"In 2020, the Trump administration declassified the transcripts of depositions given to the House Intelligence Committee," Lake wrote. "Every witness had been asked whether or not he or she had seen evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. None of them—not James Clapper, not Sally Yates, not Susan Rice—said they did."
Lake added that Schiff never accounted for the "gulf" between witness accounts behind closed doors and what he claimed he knew in front of the cameras.
Adam Schiff and Morgan Ortagus clash on ABC's "The View" over Schiff's promotion of the debunked Steele dossier. (Screenshot/ABC) (Screenshot/ABC)
‘THE VIEW’ GUEST CLASHES WITH ADAM SCHIFF OVER DISCREDITED DOSSIER: ‘YOUR CREDIBILITY IS’ DIMINISHED
"This is a shame. A more honest author would have pondered how his prevarications on the matter of Russian collusion ended up damaging his case with Republicans when it came to Trump’s impeachment for pressuring Ukraine," Lake wrote. "A more honest author might have taken a few pages to apologize to Carter Page and others he falsely accused."
"Doing so would have given some credibility to the parts of his narrative about Trump’s very real threats to our republic," he added. "But Schiff is a resistance leader, not a truth-teller, and he knows the likely audience for his book will overlook a few fibs and elisions for the greater cause of defeating the orange menace."
Lake wrote that Schiff ended his book lamenting a political culture in which parties couldn't agree on basic facts.
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"In the end, then, Schiff is describing a problem he helped create," he wrote.