ZIP | November 26, 2019 4:04 pm

One day, Rep. Adam Schiff may come to symbolize the Washington swamp.

He’s been the main ringmaster of the “impeachment inquiry” circus attacking President Donald Trump in the nation’s Capitol.

He failed to fully disclose his staff’s contact with the “whistleblower” who helped spark that inquiry.

And now, according to Breitbart, it turns out Schiff’s House Intelligence Committee has at least two staffers with ties to a think tank partially funded by the Urkraine energy company that paid an obscene amount of money to Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, mainly while Biden was the Obama administration’s point man for Ukraine policy.

And one of those staffers is reportedly a friend of Eric Ciaramella, the man suspected of being the “whistleblower” behind the whole impeachment effort.

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According to a Breitbart report Tuesday, Intelligence Committee staffer Sean Misko signed on with the Democrat-run panel in August, about the time the “whistleblower” filed a complaint with the intelligence community inspector general about a phone call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to Breitbart, Misko in 2015 was a “millennium fellow” for the Atlantic Council, a think tank partially funded by Burisma Holdings, the company that has become infamous for its connection to Hunter Biden.

Burisma paid Hunter Biden a $50,000 a month salary to serve on its board from April 2014 to April 2019, according to the website CheckYourFact.

Misko is the second Intelligence Committee staffer to have ties to the Atlantic Council, according to Breitbart. Thomas Eager, another member of the Intelligence Committee staff, is currently a fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Congressional Fellowship, a program that “educates staff on current events in the Eurasia region.”

And just to dig a little bit deeper into the swamp:

During the 2016 election year, according to Breitbart, other funders of the Atlantic Council included Google, liberal billionaire George Soros’ Open Society network, and the law firm of Perkins Coie, which represented the Hillary Clinton campaign in hiring Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that produced the Steele dossier. Small world, huh?

In October, Breitbart reported that Eager was part of an Atlantic Council trip to Ukraine in August that included a meeting with acting Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, who in November was a key witness in Schiff’s impeachment hearings.

That trip took place 10 days after the “whistleblower” complaint was filed, Breitbart reported.

If that wasn’t all chummy enough, according to Breitbart, it sounds like Misko and Eric Ciaramella, the suspected “whistleblower,” were on very friendly terms.

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Before working for the House Intelligence Committee, Misko was the director for the Gulf States at the National Security Council from 2015 to mid-2018, according to the Washington Examiner.

At the time, Ciaramella, who is now an analyst with the CIA, was also a part of the NSC.

The men had “had similarly antagonistic attitudes toward the Trump administration and were witnessed by a former National Security Council official, like Ciaramella, a nonpolitical appointee, to frequently be around one another,” the Washington Examiner reported.

So, Schiff has already acknowledged that his staff’s contacts with the so-called “whistleblower” were closer than he let on.

If Ciamarella really is the “whistleblower” – and attorneys for the “whistleblower” have never denied it – then it sounds like those contacts were closer than previously reported.

“My understanding was that they were friendly with one another,” a former NSC official, described as “senior” to Ciaremella, told the Washington Examiner. “They would walk around the halls. Get lunch together and stuff like that.”

He told the Examiner they were “very much cut from the same cloth,” and their friendship as “bro-like.”

So, this sham of an impeachment inquiry was not only sparked by a complaint from a “whistleblower” whose complaint was based on second-hand information, it is being handled by a House Intelligence Committee staff with at least two members who have ties to a think tank that’s financially supported by a company that’s at the heart of an important part of the whole affair.

And to top it all off, one of those staffers could well have a “bro-like” friendship with the “whistleblower” that includes shared “antagonistic attitudes toward the Trump administration.”

Who’s playing a leading role in all of this?

None other than the odious Adam Schiff.

It’s practically a picture of the Washington “swamp” in action — and exactly the kind of swamp Donald Trump was elected to drain.

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Evangelist Franklin Graham suggested the resistance President Donald Trump has faced since taking office could be “demonic” in origin.

Graham made the assertion while appearing as a guest on “The Eric Metaxas Radio Show” in a segment posted online on Thursday.

“It’s a very bizarre situation to be living in a country where some people seem to exist to undermine the president of the United States,” Metaxas said. “It’s just a bizarre time for most Americans.”

“Well, I believe it’s almost a demonic power that is trying–” Graham began to respond when Metaxas interjected, “I would disagree.”

“It’s not almost demonic. You know and I know that at the heart it’s a spiritual battle,” the talk show host said.

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Graham went on to list some of the positive things currently happening in the United States, seeming to suggest, based on the facts alone, that Trump shouldn’t be facing such hostility.

“If you look at what the president has done, just for our country, regardless of whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, the unemployment is at the lowest in 70 years,” Graham said.

“More African-Americans are working, more Latinos are working, more Asians are working, more everybody is working. We have an economy that is just screaming forward. It’s incredible,” he added.

Metaxas agreed, saying the U.S. economy was “dead in the water” before Trump was elected. “That’s a fact. That’s not our opinion.”

Graham explained how the church and the cause of advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ benefit when people are working and able to tithe and help fund mission work around the world.

“All of this is because Donald Trump said he was going to turn things around and make America great again,” the evangelist said, arguing Trump the businessman was just what the country needed.

Responding to Graham, Metaxas undercut the notion that Trump does not deserve support because he’s not Christian enough.

“It’s just a fascinating thing because people seem to devolve to a kind of moralistic Pharisaism,” the bestselling author said.

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“Then they go on to cite how he’s the least Christian, and they go on and on and on,” Metaxas said. “And I think these people don’t even have a biblical view when it comes to that. If somebody doesn’t hold to our theology, that doesn’t mean they can’t be a great pilot, or a great doctor or dentist.”

Graham, who prayed at Trump’s inaugural ceremony in January 2017, responded, “I believe that Donald Trump believes in God. He believes in Jesus Christ.”

The Christian leader then suggested that the president’s theological understanding may not be too deep, saying Trump did not get “a whole lot of teaching” while living in New York City.

“He knows there’s two testaments, right?” Metaxas joked.

Graham and Metaxas received some blowback from media personalities for stating that Trump is facing demonic opposition.

Conservative blogger Erick Erickson — who was among the Never Trump ranks in 2016, but has stated he will vote for the president in 2020 — tweeted on Saturday, “If your Christianity requires a President to protect you and those who oppose that President are demonic, you aren’t actually practicing Christianity. You’re worshiping idols.”

No one called the people opposing Trump “demonic”. There can be spiritual forces involved w/o the people themselves being “demonic”! And you can like a prez w/o agreeing w/everything he ever said or did. That’s hardly “worshiping” him as an idol.This is getting icky. #chillpill

— Eric Metaxas (@ericmetaxas) November 24, 2019

Metaxas responded, “No one called the people opposing Trump ‘demonic’. There can be spiritual forces involved w/o the people themselves being ‘demonic’! And you can like a prez w/o agreeing w/everything he ever said or did. That’s hardly ‘worshiping’ him as an idol. This is getting icky. #chillpill.”

In a piece for The Atlantic, Peter Wehner, a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center, berated Metaxas and Graham as “theologically distorted and confused.”

“Just ask yourself where this game ends. Do demonic powers explain opposition to all politicians supported by Graham and Metaxas, or to Trump alone? Would they argue that all Christians (and non-Christians) who oppose Trump are under the influence of Satan?” Wehner asked.

Perhaps in response to the whole controversy, Graham tweeted a well-known scriptural passage regarding the spiritual battle Christians face.

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (Ephesians 6:13)

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) November 26, 2019

“‘Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.’ (Ephesians 6:13),” Graham wrote.

In an interview with The Western Journal this summer, Graham gave Trump high marks for his handling of the presidency to date.

“I think he has honored his commitments to the faith-based community,” Graham said. “He is pro-life, [the] first president really in my lifetime that has been this vocal about life. I certainly appreciate that about him.”

“He’s fulfilled his promise as it relates to conservative judges,” he said. “He’s put two Supreme Court justices so far on the bench that are conservative. He’s appointed a number at lower courts.”

The Christian leader also cited Trump’s economic record and destruction of the ISIS caliphate.

“All this he has done without a fully supportive Republican majority. He, of course, has been able to do it with the relentless attacks of the Democrats,” Graham said. “He may go down in history as one of the best presidents we’ve had.”

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is donating his third-quarter salary to help tackle the nation’s opioid epidemic.

A White House official says Trump has given the $100,000 he would be paid in the quarter to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health, which oversees federal public health offices and programs, including the surgeon general’s office.

The White House says the funds are being earmarked “to continue the ongoing fight against the opioid crisis.”

Trump has made tackling the misuse of opioids an administration priority. More than 70,000 Americans died in 2017 from drug overdoses, the bulk of them involving opioids.

Trump is required to be paid, but he has pledged to donate his salary while in office to worthy causes. Trump donated his second-quarter salary to the surgeon general’s office.

More than familiar with controversy, the animated adult comedy “South Park” is catching heavy flak once again this season — this time for the airing of an episode poking fun at the transgender movement.

Playing on the absurdity of a recent cultural push to include transgender women — better known as men — into women’s athletics, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone pulled out all the stops with their comically outlandish depiction of a hulking, Randy Savage-esque transgender woman’s attempt to “kick some f—ing a–” in a women’s strength competition.

WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers may find offensive.

As the “The Strong Woman Competition” begins Vice Principal Strong Woman meets her biggest rival – a woman named Heather Swanson who recently identified as female. Watch the all-new episode, “Board Girls” for FREE – https://t.co/8pCHD1OQQj #SouthPark23 pic.twitter.com/ztiBE8eclQ

— South Park (@SouthPark) November 15, 2019

The proverbial salting of open wounds did not stop there, however, with the episode also happening to coincide with the first day of “Transgender Awareness Week,” according to LGBT athletics blog Outsports.

Yet, despite the expectedly ridiculous nature of the episode, and the incessant whining of the LGBT community in response, “South Park” seems to have accomplished the goal of any good satire: to make people reflect on the culture.

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This episode has done just that, effectively bringing an overwhelming amount of social media attention to an undeniable trend that has seen hulking transgender women dominating women’s sporting events in recent years.

And this trend finds no better example than that of Hannah Mouncey — whose story made waves for the second time in just over a year in light of “South Park’s” supposedly “transphobic” romp.

Another male athlete claiming female “gender identity,” Mouncey made international headlines last fall when he withdrew his professional draft nomination for the women’s Australian Football League because of perceived discrimination, according to The Independent.

Standing 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing in at approximately 220 pounds, Mouncey, who had competed on the men’s national team for handball in 2016, was crowned a hero by the LGBT community for attacking the AFL’s “Gender Diversity Policy” — a policy he claimed was too restrictive.

Apparently, it’s just too much to ask that a man who wants to beat up on women athletically at least demonstrate two years of balanced female hormone levels.

Who could imagine a restriction so draconian?

It isn’t as though the scientific literature has shown time and again that even after hormone replacement therapy, transgender women still have a significant athletic advantage over biological women as a result of their bone and muscle structure.

Oh, wait. Yes, it has.

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But in all seriousness folks, just watch Mouncey’s tale of the tape.

Australian trans athlete Hannah Mouncey — who is double the size of everyone else in this video — says sports discriminate against trans women and wants to compete against women.This is literally last week’s South Park episode pic.twitter.com/NB8NIMRUpG

— Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) November 24, 2019

The video above just about says it all.

This “woman” towers over each and every girl on the court.

Clip after clip shows Mouncey absolutely manhandling his competition, easily pushing them out of the way and, at times, outright steamrolling over them.

It doesn’t take an expert in anatomy and physiology to recognize that no matter how much estrogen you pump into a post-pubic male — no matter how much a man “feels like” a woman — there are simple biological realities that we cannot ignore.

But maybe it does take a visual explanation.

Maybe headline after headline demonstrating the dominance of transgenders in women’s weightlifting, track and field, mixed martial arts and cycling simply wasn’t going to cut it.

Maybe what people needed was a demonstrably farcical cartoon representation to recognize that the reality of the subject is just as laughably absurd.

Because the truth is, the move to include transgenders in women’s sports is already a caricature of itself.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.