Did President Trump just tip his hand?
I have often noticed and commented on how President Trump never goes public with something until he knows he has all the evidence already.
And when he first makes a comment, it will often receive a lot of blowback and scorn from the media, but later we learn President Trump was right all along.
Exhibit A, you may remember when President Trump tweeted out “Just found out they tapped my wires!”
The media went nuts mocking him over the tweet, only to learn months later that he was right.
Well, did we just experience this phenomenon again?
I think so.
And it came in the form of President Trump’s Tweet and Facebook message about Adam Schiff.
Look:
Tweet:
Facebook Post:
What immediately jumped out at me was not the words in all caps, although those are interesting!
No, it was the small 3-letter word...."yet".
I think this is President Trump tipping his hand that he has evidence of corruption on Adam Schiff.
And he's having fun taunting him with it.
That's just my take.
Schifty-Schiff went on Meet The Press this morning and claimed he was being threatened:
President Trump didn't seem to be very amused by the interview:
Here's more, from Vox:
In a Sunday morning tweet, President Donald Trump said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff would have to pay a “price” for his leading role in the impeachment trial.
“Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man,” the president wrote. “He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!”
The president did not immediately clarify whether he meant the tweet to be a threat, as it appears to be, but Schiff certainly took it as one.
The lawmaker was quick to respond — through his own Twitter account, and on NBC’s Meet the Press, where he called Trump a “wrathful and vindictive” president. Schiff also told NBC’s Chuck Todd he thought the tweet was “intended to be” a threat against him.
The president appeared to be aware of what Schiff said on the program, attacking its host and Schiff shortly after the segment aired, calling Todd “a fraud and corrupt” and Schiff a “conman.”
Trump often targets Todd and Schiff on Twitter
Sunday’s tweets are merely the latest in a long line of Twitter attacks the president has launched against Schiff and Todd.
The president often uses the press as a foil, having branded it the “enemy of the people,” and seems to have particular disdain for Todd, who he has accused of trying “to make me look as bad as possible.” This has led to tweets like Sunday’s, as well as naked antagonism, like a 2015 tweet in which the president wrote, “Sleep eyes [Chuck Todd] is killing Meet The Press. Isn’t he pathetic? Love watching him fail!”
READ MORE: Here's Why President Trump Calls Him Liddle' Adam Schiff
Trump’s anger toward Schiff stems from the congressman’s crucial involvement in the impeachment trial; Schiff helped oversee the impeachment inquiry, and has led the arguments for the president’s removal in the Senate trial.
The president often attacks the lawmaker, as he did in his Sunday tweet, over Schiff’s decision to paraphrase a memo of Trump’s call transcript with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which the president asked for an investigation into the Biden family. Although Schiff clearly noted that he was simply stating “the essence of what the president communicates,” Trump claimed Schiff incorrectly represented the call — and has used the incident to insult Schiff ever since.
Schiff’s fellow impeachment manager, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), appeared on CNN’s State of the Union to criticize Trump’s Sunday tweet as “unfortunate,” and also said that he had a “tendency to say things that seem threatening to people.”
And for a less biased opinion, here is the NY Post:
President Trump railed against Rep. Adam Schiff on Sunday, calling him “CORRUPT” and saying he has “not paid the price, yet” — in Twitter posts the California Democrat said he takes as a threat.
“Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man. He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!” Trump said of Schiff, who’s leading the team of Democrats presenting the House’s case against Trump in the Senate impeachment trial.
“The Impeachment Hoax is a massive election interference the likes of which has never been seen before. In just two hours the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats have seen their phony case absolutely shredded. Shifty is now exposed for illegally making up my phone call, & more!”
Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that spearheaded the initial House impeachment inquiry, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday and was asked whether he saw the tweets as a threat.
“I think it’s intended to be,” Schiff said. “But look, it is going to be very difficult for some of these senators to stand up to this president. It really is. There’s just no question about it.”
“This is a wrathful and vindictive president; I don’t think there’s any doubt about it,” he continued. “And if you think there is, look at the president’s tweets about me today, saying that I should ‘pay a price.’”
The question came up when NBC’s Chuck Todd asked Schiff about criticism he received from GOP senators when he referred to a CBS report that their heads saying would be “on a pike” if they don’t support the president in the impeachment trial.
“I don’t think it was personal to refer to this CBS story. I made the argument that it’s going to require moral courage to stand up to this president,” Schiff said.
GOP Sen. James Lankford was asked during an appearance on CNN if Trump’s comment could be construed as a threat against Schiff, who host Jake Tapper said has been getting death threats.
“Is that a price?” Tapper asked.
“No, that is not what the president is trying to do,” Lankford, of Oklahoma, said. “And the people will hold him accountable for that, and Nancy Pelosi the same way, and both are saying that the American people will speak on this.”
Tapper then asked why Republicans ripped Schiff for the heads “on a pike” comment, but didn’t criticize Trump for his Twitter comments.
“I don’t think it’s a death threat,” Lankford said. “I don’t think he’s encouraging death threats.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the House impeachment legal team, cautioned Trump to be “more presidential” in his language.
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