The top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff (CA), was duped last year by two Russian pranksters who go by the nicknames “Vovan” and “Lexus.” The pair have a history of pranking high-ranking American government officials, including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. Thanks to Schiff’s prominent role in the FISA memo debacle, we’re now learning that, 10 months ago, Schiff took a phone call from Vovan and Lexus, one of whom identified as a fictitious chairman from the Ukrainian Parliament claiming to have compromising information on President Donald Trump. During the phone call, the pranksters claimed that in 2013 Trump had attended the Miss Universe competition where he met with Russian journalist and celebrity Ksenia Sobchak, who subsequently provided Trump with a Russian prostitute. The pranksters claimed to have naked pictures of Trump, which Russian President Vladimir Putin had obtained.

During the conversation Schiff asks, “And so Putin was made aware of the availability of the compromising material?” The pranksters answer, “Yes, of course,” adding that Putin wanted Trump to know “all those compromising materials will never be released if Trump will cancel all Russian sanctions.” To which Schiff responds, “Alrighty. Good, this is very helpful. I appreciate it. … We will try to work with the FBI to figure out, along with your stuff, how we can obtain copies.”

A spokesperson for Schiff insists that he knew all along the call was bogus and a prank, but the Daily Mail reports that Schiff’s office did in fact attempt a follow-up with the pranksters, sending emails seeking details on where and when to pick up the compromising material.

The irony here is that Schiff, who was highly critical of the meeting Donald Trump Jr. took at Trump Tower with the Russian lawyer in 2016 over the promise of receiving dirt on Hillary Clinton, seemingly has little problem with attempting to gain compromising material from Russians on Trump. Evidently, if the information feeds the desired political narrative, then by all means bring it on.

Here’s the recorded prank phone call with Schiff; decide for yourself:

Finally, on the subject of being punked…

There is an outbreak of unverified nonsense on conservative blogs, claiming that Adam Schiff is connected to George Soros — that his sister was married to Soros’ son. Indeed, there is a Melissa Robin Schiff who was married to Soros’s son, but Melissa Schiff is the daughter of Marlene and the late Dr. Haskel Schiff of New York, while Rep. Adam Schiff is the son of Edward and Sherrill Ann Schiff of Framingham, Massachusetts.

There is nothing “conservative” about propagating “fake news,” but there actually is a connection between Schiff and Soros.

Schiff’s election to the House in 2000 was backed by MoveOn, the Council of State Governments and Open Society, leftist political fronts backed by Hungarian socialist George Soros, one of the billionaire archenemies of Liberty.