White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed reports that a Democratic whistleblower told the FBI in 2017 that then-Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) had leaked classified information to smear President Donald Trump.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has already said he wants to see Adam Schiff held accountable for the countless lies he told the American people in relation to the Russiagate scandal. I brought Tulsi Gabbard out to this podium to talk to you about all of that, and this administration is taking accountability very seriously. As for this new FBI whistleblower report, I understand Kash Patel last night declassified a 302 FBI document showing that a whistleblower who is a Democrat, a career intelligence officer who worked for Democrats on the House Intel Committee for more than a decade, repeatedly warned the FBI in 2017 that then-rep Adam Schiff had approved leaking classified information to smear then-president Donald Trump over the Russiagate scandal. This is obviously a bombshell whistleblower report. Hopefully more people in this room will cover it as such. And I have a quote from the FBI director for all of you. He has said this, for years, certain officials used their positions to selectively leak classified information to shape political narratives. It was all done with one purpose, to weaponize intelligence and law enforcement for political gain. Those abuses eroded public trust in our institutions. The FBI will now lead the charge with our partners at DOJ, and Congress will have the chance to uncover how political power may have been weaponized and to restore accountability. That’s what the administration is focused on, and hopefully we’ll see some more media reports on this whistleblower allegation. If this were reversed, if this were allegations against the president or any of these cabinet officials, I’m sure everyone in this room would cover it as such.

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