Update, with Schiff video Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told Bill Maher tonight that President Donald Trump is “dimming the beacon of hope for the rest of the world.”

Schiff, who was the top of show interview guest on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher, had called out Trump earlier in the day over the president’s suggestion of a taped White House meeting with fired FBI director James Comey. “The President should immediately provide any such recordings to Congress or admit, once again, to have made a deliberately misleading—and in this case threatening—statement,” Schiff had said.

He reiterated the sentiment on Real Time, telling Maher, “Is it worse if he’s telling the truth and guilty of what he accused his predecessor of – wiretapping people in the White House – or that the President of the United States will just willy-nilly tell the American people things that are patently untrue?”

Related Story Joe Biden Gets Hometown Hero Welcome At CNN Town Hall; Putting Putin On Notice, Ex-VP Offers Preview Of First Debate With Trump

“He is dimming the beacon of hope for the rest of the world,” Schiff told Maher, saying that political prisoners around the globe “look to the United States to speak for them, and it’s a great tragedy all over the world if we lose that leadership.”

"If there was no 'there' there, James Comey would still have a job." – @RepAdamSchiff #RealTime pic.twitter.com/WGWg59WEkF — Real Time (@RealTimers) May 13, 2017

Maher also brought up what he called Fox News’ “there is no there, there” talking points about the Trump-Russia investigations.

“If there was no there there,” Schiff replied, “James Comey would still have a job.” The Russians, he continued, intervened in last November’s election not just because they like Trump and hate Hillary, but “they wanted to tear down our democracy.”

Schiff wouldn’t predict the outcome of his investigation, saying the endeavor was a “mammoth undertaking” and global in reach.

HBO via Twitter

Tonight’s episode, which also included author Annabelle Gurwitch, podcaster Jon Favreau, musician Michael Render (aka Killer Mike) and Reason editor-at-large Matt Welch, wasn’t all serious, of course. Maher’s mid-show comic bit was a fake plug for his fake book “The Art of the Meal: 101 Trump Fat Jokes.”

“Because he’s tall and wears dark suits, people say he’s robust and powerful,” Maher said, gut-punching the Donald, “but he’s not. He’s fat.” Some of the politically incorrect jokes about Trump from the faux-book? “Most of the voices in his head are chewing” and “his Secret Service code name is Chris Christie.”