Top GOP lawmaker calls on Schiff to step down as Intel chair

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday called for Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to step down as House Intelligence Committee chairman after Attorney General William Barr said the Mueller report did not conclude that the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in 2016.

“[Schiff] owes the American public an apology,” McCarthy said in an interview with Politico. “Schiff has met the standard that he has imposed on other members of Congress of when they should step back from their positions.

“He has exceeded that standard, and there is no question he should step down from the Intel chairmanship,” McCarthy added.

{mosads}Schiff has faced increased scrutiny from allies of President Trump in the hours since Barr sent Congress a four-page summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report, which said the report “did not find” that the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 presidential election.

White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway said on “Fox & Friends” Monday that Schiff should resign for his continued lies about the investigation into Trump.

“Adam Schiff should resign,” Conway said. “He has no right, as somebody who has been peddling a lie day after day after day unchallenged — unchallenged and not under oath. Somebody should have put him under oath and said ‘you have evidence, where is it?'”

Schiff, an outspoken critic of the president’s, is conducting an expansive House investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia. He also has repeatedly said there was clear evidence of collusion.

The California Democrat said Sunday before Barr’s memo was released that there was still “significant evidence of collusion.”

Schiff said later that day that he trusted Mueller’s judgement, but added that the public must see the underlying evidence.

“Mueller did not find sufficient evidence to establish conspiracy, notwithstanding Russian offers to help Trump’s campaign, their acceptance, and a litany of concealed interactions with Russia,” Schiff tweeted. “I trust Mueller’s prosecutorial judgement, but the country must see the evidence.”

Mueller did not find sufficient evidence to establish conspiracy, notwithstanding Russian offers to help Trump’s campaign, their acceptance, and a litany of concealed interactions with Russia.

I trust Mueller’s prosecutorial judgement, but the country must see the evidence.

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) March 24, 2019

The office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday defended Schiff against what it called “ridiculous attacks.”

“Democrats aren’t going to be intimidated by the White House or Congressional Republicans, we’re not going to be distracted from securing the release of the full Mueller report and the underlying evidence, and we will continue to pursue legitimate oversight because that’s what the Constitution requires,” Pelosi spokeswoman Ashley Etienne told The Hill in a statement.

“The days of Congress ignoring the mountain of legal and ethical misconduct by this President and Administration are over,” she added.