“The most direct effort to interfere with the investigation with the Trump campaign.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Monday called President Donald Trump’s ordering of the Justice Department to investigate whether or not the FBI surveilled his campaign the “most direct assault on the independence of the Justice Department” since the James Comey’s firing.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Schiff what he thought about the president’s demand, which he tweeted on Sunday, and the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee called it “deeply disturbing.”
“I think second to the firing of Comey, this is the most direct assault on the independence of the Justice Department,“ Schiff said, while also calling it ”the most direct effort to interfere with the investigation with the Trump campaign.”
Schiff added that Trump’s order “puts the Justice Department in a very difficult position.” He also blamed outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans for being “complicit” in Trump’s attacks on the DOJ.
Rep. Adam Schiff on Trump demanding that the DOJ investigate whether the FBI spied on his campaign: “I think second to the firing of Comey, this is the most direct assault on the independence of the Justice Department” https://t.co/l8biHQMjc5
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 21,2018
“Here we have a weak speaker, we have members of Congress that are only too happy to be complicit with the president in the beating down the independence of the Justice Department — and this is a major threat to the rule of law,” Schiff said.
He also doubled down on his claim that it’s “nonsense” for Trump’s team to be concerned about a politically-embedded spy. “It simply didn’t happen […] there’s not concern within the White House about this, there’s a sense of opportunity”
Schiff calls the concern about a politically-embedded spy “nonsense”: “It simply didn’t happen… there’s not concern within the White House about this, there’s a sense of opportunity” https://t.co/Iyibg2sM1C
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 21,2018
On Sunday, Trump tweeted the following demanded the DOJ look into if there was politically motived surveillance of the Trump team during the campaign.
“I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” Trump wrote.
On Monday, the Justice Department announced its inspector general will broaden its investigation to include “whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election.”
William is a Senior Congressional and Breaking News Reporter for IJR. Prior to that, he covered politics and breaking news at AOL.com, leading the sit… more
