Schiff: We Should Not Be ‘Embracing’ Impeachment Of Trump Until We Have Seen the ‘Full Body of Evidence’
RUSH EXCERPT:
TAPPER: "So you have argued in The New York Times opinion piece in may that impeachment of President Trump will be more difficult politically if it seems like Democrats were hoping to impeach President Trump all along. It seems pretty clear that a lot of Democrats believe that there are now grounds for impeachment based on this Michael Cohen plea agreement in which he admits to committing felonies and two of them he says he did in coordination with and at the direction of then candidate trump, but it also seems as though Democrats don’t want to talk about impeachment because it might hurt your ability to win back the house in November."
SCHIFF: "Well, it’s not just, I think, that Democrats don’t want to talk about impeachment. I think as a matter of our constitutional responsibility we have to look candidly at what is the evidence and what does that mean and what does that say in terms of weather we’ve reached the point of high crimes and misdemeanors, but I don’t think we should be talking about it and embracing before we have seen the full body of evidence. As a former prosecutor I like to know all the facts before I make a judgment and the reality is impeachment is a political standard. Impeachment is at any given time what half of the house and two-thirds of the Senate say it is. And given the dearth of people in the GOP who are willing to say anything about this president’s conduct, I think you’re going to need a really powerful case to entertain that kind of a sanction. Jake, look what happened after the president started attacking his own attorney general for not getting rid of Bob Mueller and persecuting his political rivals. You had two prominent GOP senators say, well, if he wants to get rid of the ag we will help him get a new one but let’s wait until after the midterms. That is not something you would have ever heard John McCain say. I was proud to see Ben Sasse take issue with that. That was very John McCain-like. We need people like John McCain now more than ever."
