Mdthbs

I'm wondering why the news media focuses on the problem of whether or not Adam Schiff talked to the whistleblower before filing the complaint or not such as this.

I would appreciate it if somebody could explain it.

On Trump-leaning side of the media, it's taken as evidence of some big Democrat conspiracy to bring down Trump. Trump himself claimed that Schiff "helped write" the whistleblower's complaint. This has been repeated by pro-Trump media personalities like Tucker Carlson, although even Carlson only presented the collaborative writing bit as "credible rumours"; but Carlson nevertheless claimed that Schiff "orchestrated" the whole thing "in secret". Similarly, Hannity said that the impeachment effort was "totally based on the whistleblower complaint that the shifty Schiff himself had a hand in creating, clearly." (Carlson and Hannity are two Fox News hosts/personalities with a big audience.)

On the other side, it was more of an issue that Schiff wasn't exactly transparent about those contacts, at least initially. And that was seen as a problem because procedural issues can provide ammunition to the pro-Trump side. As CNN put it

for Schiff, there is no room for error. Every move he makes, every word he utters, is scrutinized by Republicans and combed for mistakes -- however minor.

First of all, Schiff never spoke to the whistleblower. At one point he stated that they (his committee) didn't have a conversation with that individual. In the context of questioning the individual they knew was a whistleblower about what was deemed to be a legitimate and credible complaint, that is accurate.

However, early on in the process, the whistleblower did contact his office with concerns, and asked for guidance on what to do. They advised that individual to get an attorney, and to follow the internal procedures for filing a complaint for the IG to evaluate. The staff person who took the call mentioned the broad outlines of the call to Schiff.

The previous Chair, the GOP's Devin Nunes said that they get dozens of these kinds of inquiries every year. There is nothing to indicate that this was handled in any way differently than the many other general inquiries they receive and have to deal with.

When Schiff dismissed the idea that they had specific, substantive discussions about the complaint with the person filing the complaint, he used much more general and broad language than that.

Is it an actual big deal? No. Because that kind of a very general referral to lodge the complaint with another entity, by the book, in no way would prejudice or allow Schiff or the Democrats to manipulate or manage the process. In the political and PR arena, does "actual" matter? Not as much as appearances, so he did give a window for people to claim/spin that he wasn't being candid.

However, pretty much everything in the complaint so far has mapped to what actually happened, to the point where the Trump Administration has confirmed those details while claiming them to be inaccurate, and that means that they need to muddy the waters. By casting rather weak and baseless claims about a corrupted process or a rigged system, they are hoping to de-legitimize the very serious matter of impeachment by claiming it is a political charade instead of a legitimate checking of an abuse of power and office of the President.

In the context of impeachment, something is a big deal if the voters think it is. The voters, after all, have the power to re-elect both the President and the Congress, or not. So their opinions matter. Something that swings even 1% of voters one way or the other is likely to change the results of some elections and could even swing the 2020 Presidency.

Schiff says there was no direct communication. If this is proven to be a lie, it will reflect poorly on the Democrats.

The Politifact piece looks to me like evidence that there was communication, but not necessarily direct communication. Thus Schiff's statement may be true (they didn't speak directly) yet also leaving out important context (they could be acting as part of a coordinated plan without direct communication). Obviously each voter will decide for themselves what to make of that, but one suspects that some won't like it.