Adam Schiff Targets Trump W.H. Lawyer During ‘CBS Sunday’

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During an appearance this weekend on CBS’s Face The Nation, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) — a member of the House committee investigating January 6 — laid out the case for the riot panel hearing from Pat Cipollone, who was White House counsel in the Trump administration when the Capitol riot took place.

The riot committee issued a subpoena for Cipollone after recent public testimony from former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who discussed the former official. According to Hutchinson, Cipollone was concerned in the lead-up to January 6 about somebody potentially getting criminally charged if Trump went to the Capitol on January 6 like Donald wanted. It’s unclear what Trump would’ve done there, but although there’s no footage from inside the vehicle, Trump was intent on heading to the Capitol to the point he apparently flipped out when he got in the presidential SUV after his January 6 speech and his team was heading back to the White House instead. Asked about Cipollone, Schiff said:

‘We’re in discussions with Mr. Cipollone’s counsel. I’m hopeful that we can work out bringing him in for testimony. He clearly has information about concerns about criminal violations, concerns about the president going to the Capitol that day, concerns about the chief of staff having blood on his hands if they didn’t do more to stop that violent attack on the Capitol. Hard to imagine someone more at the center of things, and I hope that he’ll demonstrate the same courage we saw Cassidy Hutchinson display.’

Schiff also discussed the possibility of prosecuting Trump for violating the law in connection to January 6 and his wide-ranging attempts to undercut the outcome of the 2020 presidential election — election meddling efforts that directly drove what happened that day. Asked if he agrees with comments riot committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) made in an interview where she said categorically avoiding holding Trump accountable would be a greater threat to the country’s foundations than whatever political impacts might come from potentially prosecuting him, Schiff said he agreed. The Congressman added:

‘For four years, the Justice Department took the position that you can’t indict a sitting president. If the department were now to take the position that you can’t investigate or indict a former president, then a president becomes above the law. That’s a very dangerous idea that the founders would have never subscribed to. Even more dangerous, I think in the case of Donald Trump. Donald Trump is someone who has shown when he’s not held accountable, he goes on to commit worse and worse abuses of power. So I agree with Judge Carter in California, I think there was evidence that the former president engaged in multiple violations of the law, and that should be investigated.’

“It’s certainly not a step to be taken lightly at all,” Schiff also observed, discussing Trump’s potential criminal prosecution. “At the same time, immunizing a former president who has engaged in wrongdoing, I would agree with our vice chair, I think is more dangerous than anything else. And the decision not to move forward to the investigation or not to move forward to the prosecution, because of someone’s political status or political influence or because they have a following — to me, that is a far more dangerous thing to our Constitution than following the evidence wherever it leads, including when it leads to a former president.” Watch some of Schiff’s comments below: