OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Democrat California Rep. Adam Schiff is staring down the barrel at a $16 million fine and getting removed from the House of Representatives for his involvement in the Trump / Russian collusion investigation.
Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of the Freedom Caucus announced this week that she filed a privileged resolution against the Democrat with a fine attached to it of $16 million.
“I just filed a privileged resolution, H. Res. 437, to censure, condemn, & fine Rep. Adam Schiff $16 million (1/2 the cost of Russia investigation) for his egregious abuse of trust. I, with my GOP colleagues, look forward to an imminent vote to hold this feckless man accountable,” she said.
Last week she introduced a measure to expel Rep. Schiff from the House of Representatives after special counsel John Durham’s report revealed he repeatedly lied about “collusion” between former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
For years, Schiff repeatedly lied to the country claiming he had “evidence” of said collusion while also launching needless “investigations” into the allegation.
“Adam Schiff lied to the American people,” Luna said. “He used his position on House Intelligence to push a lie that cost American taxpayers millions of dollars and abused the trust placed in him as Chairman.
“He is a dishonor to the House of Representatives. The Durham Report makes clear that the Russian Collusion was a lie from day one and Schiff knowingly used his position in an attempt to divide our country,” she added.
In response, Schiff tweeted: “BREAKING NEWS: A MAGA Republican Member of Congress just filed a motion to expel me from the U.S. House of Representatives. I stood up to Donald Trump and held extreme MAGA forces accountable. Now they want payback. They’ll go after anyone who defends the rule of law.”
Schiff, who led the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Trump’s alleged ties with Russia, was also accused of “leaking classified information” to spread more false claims about the Trump-Russia witch hunt.
Former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that he was forced to limit how much information he gave to Schiff and his staff out of fear that it would be weaponized and selectively leaked to the media.
“During my time as CIA director and secretary of state, I know that he leaked classified information that had been provided to him,” Pompeo said.
“Outnumbered” co-host Emily Compagno, after emphasizing what a huge problem that is, asked Pompeo why there hadn’t been any accountability if leaking that kind of information is “a felony at a minimum, up to treason.”
“It’s a complicated process, right? It’s difficult to pin down precisely what happened,” Pompeo said. “But I could tell you that when we provided information to him and to his staff, it ended up in places it shouldn’t have been with alarming regularity. We could see it. In the end, I decided I held back information from them as a result.”
Schiff is also facing an ethics complaint over a campaign video he put together as he launched his bid for retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat.
The video features a clip of Schiff presenting his case for then-President Donald Trump’s second impeachment on the floor of the Senate, which, according to the watchdog group Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), is a violation of congressional rules.
“Federal law states that ‘appropriations shall be applied only to the objects for which the appropriations were made except as otherwise provided by law,'” FACT wrote in a letter to the House Ethics Committee. “To enforce this law, the ethics rules prohibit Members from using any official resource for campaign or political purposes.
