House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) played fast and loose with the facts during the part of the impeachment circus he headed up. As usual, the mainstream media was more than willing to provide him cover. NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN…all of these channels have tried to convince the audience that although there is no hard evidence of a quid pro quo, everyone should agree with the impeachment of President Trump. Now, at least one White House official is fighting back in court
Kash Patel, the director of the National Security Council’s (NSC) counterterrorism department, filed a lawsuit in Virginia this week seeking $25 million in damages for what he claims are false reports.
The suit names MSNBC contributor and Politico reporter Natasha Bertrand along with Politico’s owner, Robert Allbritton.
Patel says Bertrand wrote false reports for Politico making it look as though he gave fake or false information to President Trump about Ukraine.
During the Mueller investigation Patel wrote a White House internal memo warning of Deep State interference, “After eight months of ongoing verbal, written and subpoenaed requests — and engagement by Committee and House leadership at the highest levels — DOJ, FBI continues to impede the Committee’s legitimate investigative efforts and hinders the Committee’s ability to conduct oversight.”
In his lawsuit, Patel names Congressman Adam Schiff and his staff members as attempting to “produce false reports about him.”
Breitbart reports the lawsuit alleges that the defendants “intentionally employed a scheme or artifice to defame” Patel and undermine the President’s confidence in him as an advisor. More troublesome is the suit’s claim that Politico and Schiff worked in concert to “accomplish an unlawful purpose through unlawful means, without regard for Kash’s rights and interests.”
Patel told Breitbart, “Defendants abandoned all journalistic integrity and violated their own code of ethics in order to further the conspiracy with Schiff. Defendants did not seek truth; report truth; minimize harm; act independently; and they most certainly were not transparent.”
If true, Politico and MSNBC’s Bertrand conspired and colluded with Rep. Schiff and his staff to defame a White House advisor and create a mistrust between him and President Trump. All of which could not only endanger Patel’s job, but could also endanger foreign policy if the President were to lose trust in his advisor.
White House and Congressional leaks have been a major weapon employed against President Trump since he took office. At the epicenter of those leaks is the man who is now Chairman of The House Intelligence Committee — Adam Schiff.
The Politico article in question is Bertrand’s October 23 story titled, “Nunes Protege Fed Ukraine Info to Trump.” In it, Bertrand named Patel as the “protege,” who passed “negative information about Ukraine to President Donald Trump earlier this year, fueling the president’s belief that Ukraine was brimming with corruption and interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats.”
Patel said that he “at no time” communicated with the President about “any matters” involving Ukraine. He told Fox News he supplied no materials concerning Ukraine to the President.
Politico fashioned its story based on leaks by committee staff of the NSC’s top Russia expert and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman who has since resurfaced as Schiff’s star witness in his impeachment hearings.
Vindman’s testimony about Trump’s conversation with the President of Ukraine is almost identical to his “leak” about Patel to Politico and Schiff. In both cases, he had no firsthand knowledge, but neither party seems to care.
It is important to note that the suit describes Patel as a private individual, making it much easier to win his case.
