President Donald Trump launched another criticism of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff on Tuesday, calling him a deranged maniac.
“I think he is a maniac, I think he is a deranged human being,” Trump said. “I think he grew up with a complex for lots of reasons that are obvious. I think he’s a very sick man. And he lies.”
Trump commented on Schiff during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in London during his foreign trip for a NATO summit.
Trump critics expressed surprise and disappointment that the president was criticizing a member of Congress while he was overseas.
Schiff announced Monday the Democratic case for President Donald Trump’s impeachment would be publicly released on Tuesday, while he was meeting with world leaders.
Earlier in the day, Trump described the Democrat-led impeachment effort as “unpatriotic” but said it would not hurt his negotiations with world leaders.
The president again criticized Schiff for making up parts of his phone conversation with the president of Ukraine.
“He lied,” Trump said. “If he didn’t do that in the halls of Congress, he’d be thrown in a jail.”
He also criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for standing by Schiff, even claiming in an interview that he spoke the truth.
“These people are deranged,” Trump said.
The president said he wanted administration officials to participate in the impeachment hearings, but that the House-led process was unfair.
“So, when it’s fair, and it’ll be fair in the Senate, I’d love to have Mike Pompeo, I’d love to have Mick, I’d love to have Rick Perry, and many other people testify,” he said. “But I don’t want them to testify when this is a total fix.”