Information from the intelligence community, leaked to the media by members of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff's staff, has turned spy agencies into a "political weapon" against President Trump, according to a conservative investigative journalist.

The only way to stop this cycle, which stretches back to the Russia collusion controversy, is for there to be indictments, said Lee Smith, the author of The Plot Against the President: The True Story of How Congressman Devin Nunes Uncovered the Biggest Political Scandal in U.S. History.

He expressed confidence in Attorney General William Barr as well as U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is conducting a review of the Russia investigation, but told radio host Larry O'Connor last week that the reality is Schiff and the gang are always "two steps ahead" of the rest.

"It's going to keep happening. It's going to keep going on," Smith said on the Examining Politics podcast on Thursday. "That's what I said about impeachment. I very much respect the attorney general. I respect the man who's supposed to be investigating — this John Durham. But the reality is that they're two steps ahead. While there are no indictments, while there are no arrests, they're going to continue doing this."

Pointing to another intelligence conflict, O'Connor suggested that Schiff has been helping to stir up "ad hominem" attacks against acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, who is overseeing a major shake-up of the intelligence community. Grenell, who concurrently serves as the U.S. ambassador to Germany, has faced opposition from Democrats who claim he was picked for the spy chief role because of his loyalty to Trump, but his office has vociferously denied instigating a "purge" in that effort.

Lee said Schiff and his staff have been perpetuating the "same, sick operation" since the earliest days of the Trump administration, ensnaring people such as former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn. They both claimed reporting by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius has often been informed by such leaks, sometimes containing classified information.

To this day, with the California Democrat's push for a bipartisan commission with subpoena power to investigate the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, Lee claimed the congressman is once again out to "disturb the operations of the government."