New York Times reporter fact-checks McCarthy on whistleblower claims

A New York Times reporter fact-checked House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Twitter after McCarthy claimed an article reported that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) “just got caught orchestrating with the whistleblower” at the center of a scandal involving President Trump.

“Chairman Adam Schiff just got caught orchestrating with the whistleblower before the complaint was ever filed. Democrats have rigged this process from the start,” McCarthy tweeted Wednesday, linking to an article co-authored by reporter Matthew Rosenberg.

{mosads}“Nope. Not what the NYT reported. The whistleblower went to an intel committee staffer with a vague account of the complaint, and was told to file through proper channels,” Rosenberg tweeted in response. 

Nope. Not what the NYT reported. The whistleblower went to an intel committee staffer with a vague account of the complaint, and was told to file through proper channels. Schiff personally never knew the whistleblower’s identity. That’s hardly “orchestrating” the complaint

— Matthew Rosenberg (@AllMattNYT) October 2, 2019 

“Schiff personally never knew the whistleblower’s identity. That’s hardly ‘orchestrating’ the complaint,” he added.

Trump and his allies have seized on the Times article, which also says the aide in question told the whistleblower to hire a lawyer and file a complaint through formal channels. “That’s what they’re supposed to do,” Schiff said in a tweet.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) claimed the Times article was evidence of a “deep state scheme,” while Trump himself, without evidence, said Schiff “probably helped write” the whistleblower complaint, which largely aligns with a summary of a July call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released by the White House itself.

The Hill has reached out to McCarthy’s office for comment.