Rep. Adam Schiff said Sunday congressional Democrats may take up impeachment in the wake of the release of the special counsel report, but will consider…
Rep. Adam Schiff said Sunday congressional Democrats may take up impeachment in the wake of the release of the special counsel report, but will consider the political environment when determining any action.
Schiff told “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz the decision whether to begin proceedings to impeach President Donald Trump will be made based on the “best interests of the country.”
Raddatz asked the congressman, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, about calls by 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., for the House to open impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
On Friday, Warren tweeted that the “severity of [the president’s] misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty. That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States.”
Asked at a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Saturday if she believed the president should not only face impeachment proceedings but be impeached, Warren said “yes” in response.
Schiff, D-California, said Warren “makes an important point,” but added that Democrats will have to take the “political environment” into consideration when deciding whether to undertake impeachment.
He blamed Republicans for being “willing to carry the president’s water no matter how corrupt, or unethical or dishonest the president’s conduct may be” as the reason theoretical impeachment proceedings may ultimately be unsuccessful in the Senate.
But, he added, that “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?” Schiff said. “Is it the best thing for the country to take up an impeachment proceeding because to do otherwise sends a message that this conduct is somehow compatible with office? Or is it in the best interest of the country not to take up impeachment that we know will not be successful because the Republican leadership will not do its duty?”
Schiff also claimed Kellyanne Conway, who appeared before him on “This Week,” “could not even acknowledge that the Russians tried to help the Trump campaign and did provide substantial help to the campaign.
