Schiff Appears On ‘ABC Sunday’ & Terrifies Eric, Don Jr, & Ivanka With Announcement

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Prominent figures on both sides of the aisle are continuing to deal with the fallout from the final report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The Trump team has consistently lied about that report and its implications, claiming total exoneration when there’s no such thing included, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) bluntly tore their arguments to shreds in an appearance on ABC’s This Week. He went so far as to say there’s enough evidence to support an impeachment case, although he hesitated to assert that case should be anything but theoretical.

Talking about the special counsel’s findings that Trump did seem to obstruct justice, Schiff asserted:

‘The level of evidence in the Mueller report is serious and damning and in a normal circumstance would be I think without question within the realm of impeachable offenses. We are unfortunately in an environment today where the GOP leadership… are willing to carry the president’s water no matter how corrupt or unethical or dishonest… In those kind of circumstances, it means that an impeachment is likely to be unsuccessful. Now, it may be that we undertake an impeachment nonetheless. I think what we are going to have to decide as a caucus is — what is the best thing for the country?’

A number of prominent Democrats have expressed support for impeaching Trump recently, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.). Even House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said this weekend that he can “foresee that possibly coming,” discussing impeachment proceedings.

Importantly, Schiff did also explicitly say in that same ABC appearance that he does “believe that [Trump] obstructed justice and did so in many ways,” which would serve as support for any possible impeachment proceedings.

While that question looms, there are other serious issues for House Democrats to deal with, including the conduct of Attorney General William Barr, who clearly sought to spin the Mueller report’s findings in Trump’s favor. In his public statements, he conspicuously glossed over the evidence that the Mueller probe collected both that the Trump team was ready and even eager for Russian help even if that didn’t include a criminally prosecutable conspiracy and that Trump committed obstruction of justice, even in the absence of any criminal charges for that.

In light of these issues, Schiff had unsurprisingly harsh words for Barr, telling host Martha Raddatz:

‘The fact of the matter is that Bill Barr views himself as the president’s lawyer, not the attorney general of the United States of America… Bill Barr chose to mislead the country with his own spin… and I think that history will reflect that Bill Barr let the country down when it needed an attorney general of substance.’

He’s not the first prominent Democrat to drag Barr through the mud. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she doesn’t trust him because he’s gone “off the rails” and was “condescending” in his handling of the Mueller report prior to the recent release of a redacted version. In that light, Democrats want Barr to testify, setting the stage for a long road ahead.

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