Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Trump 'broke cardinal rule of childish nicknames', Schiff says

The president has called the California Democrat the following 'little shifty Schiff' and 'little pencil neck Adam Schiff'

Sarah Harvard
New York
Tuesday 02 April 2019 16:38 EDT
Comments
Trump attacks 'little pencil neck' Adam Schiff

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff mocked Donald Trump for breaking the “cardinal rule of childish nicknames” after the president gave him a string of monikers rather than holding on to just one.

“This is nothing new,” Mr Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN. “We’ve seen these childish nicknames for a year and a half, but he is violating the cardinal rule of childish nicknames, which is you’ve got to pick one and stick with it.”

In the past few weeks, the president called Schiff several names including “little shifty Schiff” and “little pencil neck Adam Schiff.” Another nickname, “Pencil-Neck Adam Schiff,” is featured on shirts sold on the The Trump 2020 re-election campaign’s website.

Mr Trump, along with Republicans, have recently been piling on Mr Schiff after he announced that Democrats will continue their probe of the president following special counsel Robert Mueller’s completed investigation into Russia’s election interference and alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Last month, Mr Mueller submitted his final report to Attorney General William Barr, who announced that the special counsel’s team did not find anyone on the Trump campaign guilty of conspiring with Russia.

Mr Barr said the special counsel could not “exonerate” the president on obstruction of justice and that two Justice Department officials decided against bringing a charge against Mr Trump.

Despite this, Mr Schiff stands by his belief that evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow “undoubtedly” exists and could be found by the House Intelligence committee.

“Undoubtedly, there is collusion,” the California Democrat said. “We will continue to investigate the counterintelligence issues. That is, is the president or people around him compromised in any way by a hostile foreign power?”

Adding, “it doesn’t appear that was any part of Mueller’s report.”

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Mr Schiff also rejected calls for resignation by the president and Republicans.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in