Adam Schiff Goes There And Hints That Trump and Jeff Sessions Are Obstructing Justice

Intel Committee Ranking Member Schiff said it was more imperative than ever to appoint an independent prosecutor after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who is currently investigating Donald Trump and Trump’s Attorney General’s possible collusion with Russia.

Schiff went on slam Trump and Sessions for their conflicts of interest in firing Comey, comparing the act to “a similarly tainted decision by President Nixon.”

“The decision by a President whose campaign associates are under investigation by the FBI for collusion with Russia to fire the man overseeing that investigation, upon the recommendation of an Attorney General who has recused himself from that investigation, raises profound questions about whether the White House is brazenly interfering in a criminal matter,” Schiff wrote in a statement sent to PoliticusUSA.

“While I had deep reservations with the way Director Comey handled the investigation into the Clinton emails which I made clear at the time and since, to take this action without addressing the profound conflict of interest of the President and Attorney General harkens back to a similarly tainted decision by President Nixon.”

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The Nixonian comparison is exemplified by the New York Times reporting at that time:

“President Nixon, reacting angrily tonight to refusals to obey his orders, dismissed the special Watergate prosecutor, Archibald Cox, abolished Mr. Cox’s office, accepted the resignation of Elliot L. Richardson, the Attorney General, and discharged William D. Ruckelshaus, the Deputy Attorney General.

The President’s dramatic action edged the nation closer to the constitutional confrontation he said he was trying to avoid.”

Schiff continued, “The same President who has called the investigation into the Russian hacking of our democracy and the potential complicity of his campaign a ‘fake,’ cannot pretend to have made such a decision uninfluenced by his concerns over Comey’s continued involvement in the investigation.”

“It is more imperative than ever that an independent prosecutor be appointed to restore a modicum of public confidence – now completely lacking – that the criminal investigation will continue without further interference by the White House.”

Donald Trump just tried to obstruct justice by firing James Comey days before he was to testify for the Senate Intelligence Committee.

We now have a White House, Congress, and DOJ that are actively seeking to obstruct an investigation into Russia. Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing only wanted to ask about Trump’s claims of persecution instead of anything that might, say, protect this country from a hostile foreign aggressor.

Adam Schiff is right, we need an independent prosecutor, but we won’t get one. Republicans will let Donald Trump appoint a replacement to investigate him, and that sham will be an arrow straight into the heart of this country.

Sarah Jones

Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.

Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.

Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

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