What He Said: How Adam Schiff Crushed Trumpublicans Demanding His Resignation
Memo to Capitol Hill Democrats: more like this, please!
The Beast summarizes the pushback.
Rep. Adam Schiff on Thursday blasted his Republican colleagues in response to a call for his resignation, listing all of the scandals between President Trump and the Russian government and concluding: “You might say that’s just what you need to do to win, but I don’t think it’s OK.”
In the wake of the news that Special Counsel Robert Mueller would not formally be charging President Trump at the conclusion of his investigation into Russian meddling, all nine Republicans on the House Intel Committee signed a letter calling on the California Democrat to resign and announced it at the Thursday morning hearing.
Schiff did not pull punches in response.
As you have chosen — instead of addressing the hearing — to simply attack me, consistent with the president’s attacks, I do want to respond in this way.
My colleagues may think it’s OK that the Russians offered dirt on a Democratic candidate for president as part of what was described as the Russians offered dirt on the Democratic candidate for president as part of what’s described as the Russian government’s effort to help the Trump campaign.
You might think that’s ok.
My colleagues might think it’s OK that when that was offered to the son of the president, who had a pivotal role in the campaign, that the son did not call the FBI, he did not adamantly refuse that foreign help — no, instead that son said he would ‘love’ the help with the Russians.
You might think it was ok that he took that meeting.
You might think it’s ok that Paul Manafort, the campaign chair, someone with great experience running campaigns, also took that meeting.
You might think it’s ok that the president’s son-in-law also took that meeting.
You might think it’s ok that they concealed it from the public.
You might think it’s ok that their only disappointment after that meeting was that the dirt they received on Hillary Clinton wasn’t better.
You might think it’s OK.
I don’t.
You might think it’s OK that the president’s son-in-law sought to establish a secret back channel of communication with Russians through a Russian diplomatic facility,
I don’t think that’s OK.
You might think it’s OK that an associate of the president made direct contact with the GRU through Guccifer 2.0 and WikiLeaks.
You might think it’s OK that a senior campaign official was instructed to reach that associate and find out what that hostile intelligence agency had to say, in terms of dirt on his opponent.
You might think it’s OK that the national security adviser-designate secretly conferred with a Russian ambassador about undermining U.S. sanctions, and you might think it’s OK he lied about it to the FBI.
You might say that’s all OK, that that’s just what you need to do to win.
But I don’t think it’s OK.
I think it’s immoral, I think it’s unethical, I think it’s unpatriotic and, yes, I think it’s corrupt, and evidence of collusion.
I do not think that conduct, criminal or not, is OK.
The day we do think that’s OK is the day we will look back and say that is the day America lost its way.
DEVELOPING HOT…
