White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday called a new whistleblower report about Senator Adam Schiff “a bombshell.” The whistleblower claims Schiff, a Democrat from California, approved leaking classified information to hurt President Donald Trump during the “Russiagate” investigation.
“This is obviously a bombshell whistleblower report,” Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing. “Hopefully more people here will cover it that way.”
She explained that Kash Patel, a former Trump official, had recently declassified an FBI document. The document says a whistleblower — a Democrat and longtime intelligence officer who worked for Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee — warned the FBI in 2017 that Schiff approved leaks to smear Trump.
According to the whistleblower, Schiff told a group in a meeting that they would leak classified information against Trump and use it “to indict” him. When the whistleblower said this would be illegal, others in the meeting told him they would not get caught.
Schiff served in the House of Representatives for decades before being elected to the Senate in 2024. He and Trump have been political rivals for years. Schiff was the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020 and often promoted the claim that Trump’s 2016 campaign worked with Russia.
Leavitt also read a statement from Kash Patel: “For years, certain officials used their positions to leak classified information and shape political narratives. It was all done to weaponize intelligence and law enforcement for political gain. These abuses eroded public trust.”
When asked if Trump would investigate Schiff, Leavitt said Trump has already called for Schiff to be held accountable for “countless lies” about the Russiagate scandal.
Schiff’s office strongly denied the whistleblower’s claims, calling them “absolutely and categorically false.” A spokesperson said the allegations came from a “disgruntled former staffer” who was fired in 2017 and had been found “not credible” by Trump’s own Justice Department and an independent inspector general.
Schiff is also under a separate criminal investigation for alleged mortgage fraud dating back to the early 2000s, which he denies.
The whistleblower report comes after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s claims in July that Obama-era officials created and politicized intelligence to make it appear that Russia was influencing the 2016 election in Trump’s favor.
