Ratcliffe: Schiff Should Be ‘Disqualified’ From Running Impeachment Investigation

(L)-House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) speaks to reporters after stepping out of a meeting with former special representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker at the US Capitol in Washington on Oct. 3, 2019. (Photo by Saul LOEB / AFP)(R)-Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) speaks during testimony by Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire before the House Select Committee on Intelligence in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington in a Sept. 2019 file photograph. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) said that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) should be “disqualified” from running the impeachment inquiry because Schiff’s committee had contact with the alleged whistleblower who filed a complaint against President Donald Trump before the complaint was made.

“I can tell you one thing that we’ve learned very clearly and that is that the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community can provide no information about the contact between the HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] majority and the whistleblower prior to his involvement,” Ratcliffe told reporters after lawmakers met with the inspector general, Matthew Atkinson, on Oct. 4.