Adam Schiff Says Donald Trump Believes He Can ‘Do Anything With Impunity’
On Thursday, Donald Trump openly called on Ukraine and China to investigate Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden. The call comes amidst impeachment proceedings against the president that were ignited from the controversial call in which he pressured Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter
House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, who will play a prominent role in the proceedings, spoke to CSPAN on the same day as Trump’s remarks and said they are en example of Trump’s belief that he is beyond punishment, Breitbart reports.
“To have the president of the United States suggesting — urging — a foreign country to interfere in our presidential elections is an illustration that this president, if he learned anything from the two years of the Mueller investigation, it’s that he feels he can do anything with impunity.”
Schiff added that Trump is once again encouraging a foreign nation to help his campaign by interfering with the United States elections. He called Trump’s actions a “fundamental breach of the presidential oath of office,” adding that it poses a danger to both the upcoming U.S election and national security.
“It ought to be condemned by every member of this body, Democrats and Republicans alike,” he said.
.@RepAdamSchiff: "A President of the United States encouraging a foreign nation to interfere again to help his campaign by investigating a rival is a fundamental breach of the President's oath of office." pic.twitter.com/DWfw8eGCGR
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 3, 2019
Criticism of Trump’s comment doesn’t stop with Schiff. Independent and frequent Trump critic Justin Amash — who left the GOP after calling for Trump’s impeachment following the release of Robert Mueller’s report — believes that Trump is openly challenging the United States’ “system of checks and balances” and using his position’s powers for “personal gain.”
The 39-year-old congressman added that Trump is banking on Republicans in Congress to “look the other way.”
Trump said Wednesday that he believes Schiff is having a mental breakdown. He also said he believes Schiff worked with the whistleblower to write the memo that sparked the impeachment investigation against him and suggested Schiff committed treason. Trump added that he would work with “shifty Schiff” through the impeachment proceedings regardless but believes that he fabricated the language in the transcript of the call.
Schiff is currently under fire after it was revealed Wednesday that he was provided with an outline of the whistleblower’s concerns before the report was filed. According to The New York Times report that broke the news, the whistleblower decided to go to Schiff first because he was worried that Trump’s abuse of power was so prevalent that his report might be blocked from reaching Congress.
