Trump calls on MP Adam Schiff's little Adam Schitt & # 39; in a tweet

President Donald Trump described California Democrat Adam Schiff as "Little Adam Schitt" in a tweet on Sunday, criticizing the alleged Speaker of the House of Commons Committee for his comments on Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker , Earlier in the day.

The tweet was still posted on the president's Twitter page more than an hour after it was first published by Trump.

"It's so amusing to see little Adam Schitt (D-CA) talk about the fact that Acting Attorney General, Matt Whitaker, has not been approved by the Senate, without mentioning the fact that Bob Mueller (who is very conflictual) has not been approved by the Senate! "Trump wrote.

Schiff responded in the hour, tweeting"Wow, Mr. President, this is a good example."

"Did that sound like your answers to Mr. Mueller's questions, or did you write this yourself?" he added, referring to reports that Trump would soon submit his written answers to questions from special advocate Robert Mueller.

Speaking on ABC's "This Week" show on Sunday, Schiff said the Democrats – who will take control of the House in January – will challenge the legality of Trump's appointment of Whitaker.

"I think the appointment is unconstitutional," said Schiff, adding that Whitaker's appointment was to be subject to Senate confirmation.

Whitaker's appointment, following Trump's removal from Attorney General Jeff Sessions by the Attorney General, has been the subject of much controversy, particularly with respect to his role as supervisor of Mueller's investigation. Top Democrats have called for Whitaker's "immediate disqualification", citing earlier comments criticizing the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election and indicating whether the Trump campaign had allowed Russians to influence the elections.

On Friday, opponents of the nomination asked the US Supreme Court to rule that Whitaker was not legally entitled to act as Acting Attorney General. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice presented an opinion defending the legality of Whitaker's appointment last week.

Trump left Whitaker, who was the chief of staff of the sessions prior to his appointment, to serve as Acting Attorney General using the Federal Vacancy Reform Act, a law that allows the president to fill that void until the end of his term. to the appointment of a permanent replacement. However, legal experts said the law only allowed the president to appoint a senior official confirmed by the Senate, which Whitaker did not.

In an interview with Chris Wallace, the Fox News presenter on Sunday, Trump said that he "did not know that Whitaker had taken a stand on the Mueller investigation," adding that these opinions Had "no effect" on the appointment. But, says Trump, his views on the probe are "correct".

"What do you do when a person is right?" Trump said on "Fox News Sunday". "There is no collusion.He was right.I mean, he said so.So he says that there is collusion, I am supposed to take somebody One who says there is "because then I would not take it for two reasons, but the number one reason is the fact that it would have been wrong." he said that there is no collusion, he is right. "

In his written answers to Mueller's questions, which Schiff referred to in his tweet, Trump said his legal team "wrote what I told them to write".

Allan Smith

Allan Smith is a political journalist for NBC News.