Trump Outraged That House Intel Committee Was Briefed On Russia Meddling In 2020 Election

House lawmakers were briefed last Thursday that Russia is once again meddling in the 2020 election to help President Donald Trump‘s reelection.

Trump was reportedly outraged at the briefing, fearing Democrats would use it against him. The New York Times first reported on the disclosure said Trump was particularly upset that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) was at the briefing, as he had spearheaded the impeachment case.

Schiff tweeted Friday that Trump’s disproval of the House briefing is “jeopardizing our efforts to stop foreign meddling.”

“We count on the intelligence community to inform Congress of any threat of foreign interference in our elections,” Schiff tweeted, linking to the Times story. “If reports are true and the President is interfering with that, he is again jeopardizing our efforts to stop foreign meddling.”

We count on the intelligence community to inform Congress of any threat of foreign interference in our elections.

If reports are true and the President is interfering with that, he is again jeopardizing our efforts to stop foreign meddling.

Exactly as we warned he would do. https://t.co/viSBlnA1nb

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 21, 2020 

The intelligence official who delivered the briefing to members of the House Intelligence Committee was Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community’s election threats executive.

Pierson disclosed that Russia intended to interfere in both the Democratic primaries as well as the general election.

Republicans and Democrats both requested to see the evidence that caused the intelligence officials to conclude Russia was favoring Trump. Some Republicans contested the idea of Russian interference altogether.

Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) said at the briefing that Russia would not want Trump reelected, as he had opposed Russian interests by providing military weapons to Ukraine and promoting European energy independence from Moscow.

“I’d challenge anyone to give me a real-world argument where Putin would rather have President Trump and not Bernie Sanders,” Stewart said in an interview.

An investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in 2016 found that Russia had supported Trump’s campaign by undermining his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Mueller did not find any tangible evidence that Trump had colluded with Russia in its efforts, by the president still felt attacked by the investigation and continues to try to debunk the probe‘s findings.