Rep. Schiff Fooled by Russian Comedians Prank Phone Call

Audio of the prank call was posted online.

Adam Schiff
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks about President Donald Trump's State of the Union address. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee was the victim of a prank phone call by Russian comedians. They offered to give him “compromising” dirt on Donald Trump, including naked photos of the president and a Russian reality star. Daily Mail writes that after the prank, Sciff’s staff tried to communicate with what they thought was a Ukrainian politician to obtain the “classified” promised material on the call. An audio recording of the call was posted online, and Schiff can be heard discussing the committee’s Russia investigation as well as other allegations about Trump with a man who claimed to be Andriy Parubiy, the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament. The call was actually from two Russian comedians nicknamed Vovan and Lexus. They are notorious for prank calling high-ranking American officials and celebrities, like Nikki Haley and Elton John. The call was made a year ago and first reported by The Atlantic. Schiff’s office said the congressman thought the call was suspicious and reported it to authorities, but Daily Mail now says his office pursued some of the information given in the call. A spokesperson for Schiff told The Daily Mail, “Obviously, it was bogus – which became even more evident during the call – but as with any investigation that is global in scale, we have to chase any number of leads, many of which turn out to be duds.”

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