Trump is demanding that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff face charges for making false statements about him on the House floor.
Trump tweeted:
Why isn’t Congressman Adam Schiff being brought up on charges for fraudulently making up a statement and reading it to Congress as if this statement, which was very dishonest and bad for me, was directly made by the President of the United States? This should never be allowed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2019
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Members of Congress have the privilege of speech and debate. Any member of Congress who is “acting in the sphere of legitimate legislative activity,†is “protected not only from the consequence of litigation’s results but also from the burden of defending themselves. This privilege isn’t limited to just the House floor or the member. It extends to any legislative activity, including hearings and other duties. The privilege has limits, but what Trump is referring to is protected speech.
As usual, President Know-Nothing has it wrong.
Rep. Schiff can’t be “charged” for statements made on the House floor that were spoken as part of doing his job. The speech of members of Congress while acting in their professional capacity is protected. Schiff was paraphrasing Trump in the House. The president doesn’t like it and thinks that it is a crime, but it is not.
Trump is trying to smear Schiff to muddy the waters and drag him down to his level. Trump’s smear the investigator playbook is nothing new. He has done it in his years-long attack on the nation’s intelligence community, and he did it to the Mueller investigation.
Trump doesn’t defend himself based on facts. His whole strategy is to destroy the credibility of investigations by attacking the investigator.
The evidence is too strong in the Ukraine scandal.
Adam Schiff isn’t going to be charged, but Donald Trump is likely to be impeached.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
