Trump 'broke cardinal rule of childish nicknames', Schiff says

The president has called the California Democrat the following 'little shifty Schiff' and 'little pencil neck Adam Schiff'

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff mocked Donald Trump for breaking the “cardinal rule of childish nicknames” after the president gave him a string of monikers rather than holding on to just one.

“This is nothing new,” Mr Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN. “We’ve seen these childish nicknames for a year and a half, but he is violating the cardinal rule of childish nicknames, which is you’ve got to pick one and stick with it.”

In the past few weeks, the president called Schiff several names including “little shifty Schiff” and “little pencil neck Adam Schiff.” Another nickname, “Pencil-Neck Adam Schiff,” is featured on shirts sold on the The Trump 2020 re-election campaign’s website.

Mr Trump, along with Republicans, have recently been piling on Mr Schiff after he announced that Democrats will continue their probe of the president following special counsel Robert Mueller’s completed investigation into Russia’s election interference and alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Last month, Mr Mueller submitted his final report to Attorney General William Barr, who announced that the special counsel’s team did not find anyone on the Trump campaign guilty of conspiring with Russia.

Mr Barr said the special counsel could not “exonerate” the president on obstruction of justice and that two Justice Department officials decided against bringing a charge against Mr Trump.

Despite this, Mr Schiff stands by his belief that evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow “undoubtedly” exists and could be found by the House Intelligence committee.

“Undoubtedly, there is collusion,” the California Democrat said. “We will continue to investigate the counterintelligence issues. That is, is the president or people around him compromised in any way by a hostile foreign power?”

Adding, “it doesn’t appear that was any part of Mueller’s report.”

Mr Schiff also rejected calls for resignation by the president and Republicans.