Former Trump official forces Adam Schiff to answer for Steele dossier in fiery debate on 'The View'

Former Trump State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus forced Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to answer some tough questions about the Steele dossier during his appearance on "The View" Tuesday.

Schiff was on the show celebrating the passage of a massive spending bill by the Democrats while marketing his new book about the events of the rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

"You've been really prolific over the past few years being the head of the Intel Committee, and you defended, promoted, you even read into the congressional record the Steele dossier," said Ortagus.

"And we know last week the main source of the dossier was indicted by the FBI for lying about most of the key claims in that dossier," she continued. "Do you have any reflections on your role in promoting this to the American people?"

"Well first of all whoever lied to the FBI or lied to Christopher Steele should be prosecuted, and they are," Schiff responded.

"And unlike in the Trump administration if they are convicted, they should go to jail, not be pardoned. So, [former President] Donald Trump pardoned Roger Stone for lying, he pardoned Michael Flynn for lying. If people lied to the FBI they should go to jail," he added.

"But at the beginning of the Russian investigation I said that any allegations should be investigated, we couldn't have known for example people were lying to Christopher Steele. So it was proper to investigate them," Schiff said.

"Let's not forget what we learned in the that investigation. We learned that Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was giving internal polling data, campaign polling data, to Russian intelligence while Russian intelligence was helping the Trump campaign," he added.

"And to be clear, he was fired, halfway through the campaign," Ortagus interjected.

"Well he may have been fired," laughed Schiff, "but the effort to get Russian help continued, and even beyond the effort to get Russian help."

"But you may helped spread Russian disinformation yourself for years, by promoting this," Ortagus interrupted, "I think that's what Republicans and people who entrusted you as the Intel Committee chair are so confused about your culpability in all of this."

"Well I completely disagree with your premise," Schiff replied.

"It's one thing to say that allegations should be investigated, and they were, it's another to say that we should have foreseen in advance that some people were lying to Christopher Steele, which is impossible of course to do," he added.

"But let's not use that as a smokescreen to somehow shield Donald Trump's culpability, for inviting Russia to help him in the election, which they did, for trying to coerce Ukraine into helping him in the next election, which he did," Schiff continued.

"Into inciting an insurrection, which he did. None of that is undercut, none of that serious misconduct is in anyway diminished by the fact that people lied to Christopher Steele," he said.

"No, I just think your credibility is," Ortagus said.

"Well, I think the credibility of your question is in doubt," he replied.

The crowd applauded wildly at the conclusion of the debate between Ortagus and Schiff.

Ortagus was referring to the FBI arrest of U.S.-based Russian analyst Igor Danchenko for allegedly lying about the sources of some of the information in the dossier when he was interrogated by the FBI in 2017.

Here's the video of the exchange between Ortagus and Schiff:

Rep. Adam Schiff Reacts to Gosar Tweet and Discusses Steele Dossier | The Viewwww.youtube.com