An intelligence officer who spent over a decade working for Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee repeatedly alerted the FBI, starting in 2017, that then-Rep. Adam Schiff had authorized the leaking of classified information to damage then-President Donald Trump during the now-discredited Russiagate investigation, according to explosive FBI memos recently provided to Congress by Director Kash Patel.
The staffer claimed he was told not to worry because Schiff believed the Constitution’s speech and debate clause would shield him from prosecution, Just the News first reported.
There is no publicly available opinion from the Attorney General or Solicitor General supporting such a determination as a matter of law.
However, officials told Just the News that when the allegations were first presented years ago, the Justice Department showed little interest in pursuing Schiff, echoing the same rationale the lawmaker himself had offered.
In his most recent interview with the FBI in 2023, the whistleblower — whose name remains redacted — told agents from the bureau’s St. Louis office that he had personally attended a meeting where Schiff authorized the release of classified information, the outlet said.
“When working in this capacity, [redacted staffer’s name] was called to an all-staff meeting by SCHIFF,” the interview report said. “In this meeting, SCHIFF stated the group would leak classified information which was derogatory to President of the United States DONALD J. TRUMP. SCHIFF stated the information would be used to indict President TRUMP.”
The whistleblower told investigators that he “stated this would be illegal and, upon hearing his concerns, unnamed members of the meeting reassured that they would not be caught leaking classified information,” the 2023 interview report stated, according to Just the News.
The staffer first made similar allegations to agents at the FBI’s Washington field office in 2017, shortly after the start of Trump’s first term. While the alleged leaks are now beyond the statute of limitations for prosecution under most legal theories, the disclosures surface at a politically sensitive moment for Schiff, who was recently referred to the Justice Department for potential prosecution in a separate mortgage fraud case first reported by Just the News.
Officials also noted that several DOJ personnel who declined to pursue numerous classified leak cases during the Russiagate controversy still hold influential positions — a detail that may draw the attention of congressional lawmakers.
“For years, certain officials used their positions to selectively leak classified information to shape political narratives,” Patel told Just the News on Monday. “It was all done with one purpose: to weaponize intelligence and law enforcement for political gain.
“Those abuses eroded public trust in our institutions,” he added. “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.”
Schiff, who served as both ranking member and later chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) before moving to the Senate, spent years promoting unfounded allegations of Trump-Russia collusion and championing former British spy Christopher Steele’s discredited dossier — even reading several baseless claims from it into the congressional record in March 2017.
That same year, the whistleblower began bringing concerns to the FBI, Just the News reported.
According to the memos, the Democratic HPSCI staffer told agents in one meeting that retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn — Trump’s first national security adviser — was being singled out as part of a broader committee effort to target Trump.
The whistleblower also identified Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) as a likely source of classified leaks, the outlet reported.
