Washington: The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Sunday called on voters to "throw the bums out" of Congress whom he has accused of trying to help President Donald Trump undermine the special counsel's Russia probe.

"The only thing that makes this possible is a Congress that is complicit," Representative Adam Schiff said on ABC News' "This Week," naming several conservative leaders in the Republican Party and accusing "a weak" Speaker Paul Ryan, of refusing to "stand up for the independence of the Justice Department."

Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat. Credit:Bloomberg

"As long as there's a majority in Congress that is willing to do this president's will and as long as we have a deeply unethical president, there's only one remedy," Schiff said.

Schiff's words come at the end of a week that pitted the White House against the Justice Department and left Republicans divided over concerns about the role that retired American professor and FBI source Stefan Halper played in the Russia investigation. They are also a clear sign that as Trump takes to Twitter to peddle his "spy" claims, top Democrats are eyeing the 2018 midterm elections as crucial not just for taking back the House of Representatives, but for defending the federal law enforcement agencies from what Schiff called a "pattern" of attacks.