Schiff still insists he has 'significant evidence' against Trump

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. (C-SPAN video screenshot)

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's hand-picked impeachment campaigners during her failed effort to get rid of President Trump, for years has insisted there was evidence that the Trump campaign in 2016 colluded with Russia.

He still believes it, despite the fact special counsel Robert Mueller had a crew of dozens of investigators looking for it for nearly two years and couldn't reach that conclusion

Mueller's "cardinal mistake," Schiff claimed in a new interview, was that he didn't demand "to interview the president."

The Washington Examiner reported Schiff's comments came in a Daily Beast podcast.

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Schiff insisted his House Intelligence Committee investigators uncovered "significant evidence" of "Trump campaign efforts to seek, make use of, and cover-up Russian help in the 2016 presidential election."

That's after the House Intelligence Committee, under pressure from Republicans, released 57 witness transcripts from its Russia investigation. Top Obama officials testified under oath that they had no direct evidence of Trump-Russia collusion even though they declared the opposite in TV interviews.

Schiff said he was shocked by the shaky testimony delivered by Mueller before Congress.

"I have known Bob Mueller for a long time. I have tremendous respect for him. I think he is just an amazing human being and public servant," Schiff said. "He was not the man that I knew just in terms of his strength of presence, and so it was quite surprising."

The Examiner said, "They did not discuss it in the podcast, but Mueller’s mental acuity was heavily scrutinized after he testified to Congress about the Russia investigation and appeared not to know key facts about the inquiry. He was previously considered to be sharp and competent."

Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig has said people close to Mueller, 75, think "something happened" to him over his extended two-year investigation/

Schiff said the Mueller team also make a mistake in not interviewing Donald Trump Jr.

Schiff's dedication to the story line that he has evidence of Trump campaign collusion even has prompted some Republicans to call for an investigation into his actions.

The Hill reported Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., cited Schiff's "rhetoric" about the president and his family during the special counsel probe.

"Isn’t that the information that we need to know?” asked Hice, who serves on the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

"As I said, we need to find out,” he said when asked directly whether he thought Schiff had committed a crime.

"I don’t know all that he’s done, but what I do know is that he’s been on the forefront for two years claiming that he had evidence that the president colluded with Russia," he continued. "I believe thoroughly that was false. He was either misled, or he was misleading, and we need to get to the bottom of it.”

Earlier, Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, said the chairman had lost the confidence of the panel by putting out a "demonstrably false" narrative.