House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) slammed President Donald Trump on Sunday for “willfully fanning the flames” of violence in cities like Portland and Kenosha, adding that Russia is helping to stoke the racial divides in this country.
With the president ramping up his Twitter attacks on Sunday morning following a day of violent conflicts between pro-Trump demonstrators and Black Lives Matter counterprotesters in Portland, Schiff suggested on CNN’s State of the Union that Trump was playing into Russia’s hands. “They are once again doing their best in social media, and other means, to grow these divisions again,” he said. “And I think that most pernicious, we have to worry about their aggravating the tensions in our cities.”
Noting that he personally condemns “any of the violence going on,” Schiff took issue with the president’s agitating comments on Twitter and in recent speeches.
“I want to underscore something that you are asking Senator Johnson about,” Schiff stated, referencing host Dana Bash’s previous interview with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI). “And that is the president is willfully fanning the flames of this violence. As his own adviser Kellyanne Conway said last week, they believe the violence is helpful to them. And the president is only motivated by one thing. What is in it for him?”
