Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) implied that Trump is a criminal by pointing out that the people around the president tend to get indicted.
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Transcript of Chairman Schiff on ABC’s This Week:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s talk about Lev Parnas. You released a great deal of information from him. Of course, he’s the associate of Rudy Giuliani, now indicted, who testified this week, has given a lot of documents to your committee. Testified in public, I should say. He didn’t testify to Congress.
But there’s one reference to him in your brief. How much will you be using him in your argument? Are you concerned that he won’t be seen as credible because he’s under indictment?
SCHIFF: Well, look, you know, it is the fact with many of the people surrounding the president that they end up indicted. These are the people that the president has chosen to work with, people like, you know, Michael Cohen, like Lev Parnas, like so many others, Paul Manafort, and these are people that do have information about the president’s misconduct.
But right now, George, we don’t know what witnesses will be allowed and even if we’ll be allowed witnesses. We can’t really make a determination on which witnesses we’ll call in the absence of knowing whether the Senate will allow any at all.
The threshold issue here, George, is will there be a fair trial? Will the senators allow the House to call witnesses to introduce documents? That is the foundational issue on which everything else rests. And one thing that the public is overwhelmingly in support of, and that is a fair trial.
Video:
Schiff on Lev Parnas: "It is the fact with many of the people surrounding the president that they end up indicted. These are the people that the president has chosen to work with." Via ABC pic.twitter.com/RuJvfoi14R
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 19, 2020
Innocent people who aren’t committing crimes tend not to surround themselves with criminals. If the old saying you are the company you keep is applied to Trump, then this president is a criminal.
Rudy Giuliani is under criminal investigation. Giuliani’s associates have been charged with crimes. Trump’s inner circle of his 2016 presidential campaign is full of people who were or are in jail.
Adam Schiff spoke the truth people around this president have a habit of getting indicted, but Trump is trying to sell America on the idea that he is an innocent man awash in a sea of crime.
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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
