The Ukraine whistleblower story blew up today when it was revealed that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) had contact with the whistleblower even before his complaint was filed.

The New York Times broke the story, albeit spinning it to put the best face they could on what has to be huge blow to the whole story.

According to the Times:

The C.I.A. officer approached a House Intelligence Committee aide with his concerns about Mr. Trump only after he had had a colleague first convey them to the C.I.A.’s top lawyer. Concerned about how that initial avenue for airing his allegations through the C.I.A. was unfolding, the officer then approached the House aide. In both cases, the original accusation was vague.

The House staff member, following the committee’s procedures, suggested the officer find a lawyer to advise him and file a whistle-blower complaint.

Patrick Boland, a spokesman for Mr. Schiff, admitted that Schiff’s aide had indeed been contacted by the CIA officer, but cast it as an appropriate contact.

But here’s the interview that Schiff gave to MSNBC where he was asked about contact with the whistleblower and he said “We didn’t speak directly” with him.

https://twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1179477049192394752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1179477049192394752&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fstreiff%2F2019%2F10%2F02%2Fadam-schiff-coordinated-whistleblower-complaint-filed-inspector-general%2F

While “directly” is a weasel word and Schiff himself may not have spoken to him in person, it’s clear that the person was in contact with an aide from his office.

But Schiff leaves the impression that there was no contact with his comments, that he was being denied the opportunity, saying “We would like to talk to him.”

Schiff also leaves out the fact that the whistleblower had in fact written to him on August 12 about his concerns and that he, Schiff, didn’t apprise other members of Congress about it until it all went public a month later.

There’s more.

From Daily Caller:

In a Sept. 19 press conference, he suggested that he did not know what the whistleblower was alleging. He also asserted that he might not even know that a complaint had been filed if Michael Atkinson, the IC IG, had not contacted Congress earlier last month regarding the complaint.

“In the absence of the actions, and I want to thank the inspector general, in the absence of his actions in coming to our committee, we might not have even known there was a whistleblower complaint alleging a urgent concern,” Schiff said during a press briefing on Sept. 19.

Schiff left out the part about his staff member directing the whistleblower to contact the IC IG in the first place.

Schiff’s actions not only tried to make it appear that there was no coordination, it lent to the narrative he was pushing – that the administration was somehow trying to suppress the information and cover-up, information which he, Schiff, already knew about because of contacts with the C.I.A officer.

Needless to say, the GOP blew up at him on Twitter, particularly his colleagues in Congress.

This is a stunning indictment of this impeachment charade.

Schiff got a heads up on all this.

His team then advised the “whistleblower” how to proceed, like getting a Clinton/Schumer lawyer who donated to Biden.

Who’s colluding now?https://t.co/qLDM3AYHmO

— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) October 2, 2019

Shocker (not really)…@RepAdamSchiff knew the whistleblower’s allegations before the whistleblower’s atty & before there was a whistleblower complaint. No surprise who told this person to be a whistleblower, hire an atty & file a complaint w no 1st hand knowledge. https://t.co/yeg2lwOagV

— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) October 2, 2019

So the whistleblower was communicating with team Adam Schiff behind the scenes?

Well. This explains a lot, indeed. https://t.co/57Z9OdezlA

— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) October 2, 2019

We need to know what Chairman Adam Schiff and his team knew, when they knew it, and what (if any) interactions or coordination he and his team had with this whistleblower before the complaint became abnormally public.

This story stinks to high heaven.

— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) October 2, 2019

… and the bricks begin to crumble. This is the pure definition of corruption. Did he write or influence the letter? https://t.co/74gIdkNCW5

— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) October 2, 2019

Turns out @RepAdamSchiff knew about the so-called “whistleblower complaint” before it was even filed. This fits a trend:

-He met Glenn Simpson in Aspen last summer
-His team prepped Michael Cohen for over 10 hours before that hearing

And now this.https://t.co/FtWmsF22nF

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) October 2, 2019

Statement from House Intelligence Committee ranking Republican Devin Nunes: pic.twitter.com/1ZYuuxZz7y

— Byron York (@ByronYork) October 2, 2019

BREAKING –> Chairman Adam Schiff just got caught orchestrating with the whistleblower before the complaint was ever filed. Democrats have rigged this process from the start.https://t.co/oMdSGByYtf

— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) October 2, 2019

McCarthy just signed aboard a resolution to censure Schiff. And one has to believe that the resolution just got supercharged with the revelations today.

Brit Hume sums it up:

This puts the whole impeachment inquiry in a new light. There’s no getting around the appearance that collusion-truther and Trump antagonist Schiff was a partner in this from the start. https://t.co/x9JvHg9yL4

— Brit Hume (@brithume) October 2, 2019