After Mueller, vigorous debate on impeachment: Adam Schiff

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., discussed the possibility of impeachment and revealed that further investigations into President Donald Trump are underway during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” Thursday, a day after overseeing Robert Mueller’s historic congressional testimony.

Ana Navarro, co-host of “The View,” asked Schiff what the next steps for Congress are now that Mueller has testified.

“We are doing the investigations, and as you know, we’re having a vigorous debate about whether we need to go beyond investigation to impeachment, and if so, when,” the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said.

He said that it was also clear to him that the Mueller investigation did not follow the money and so “someone needs to do the investigation into money laundering.”

“What we’re doing in the Intelligence Committee is we are following the money, and we’re investigating that issue of money laundering potentially by the Russians through Trump businesses and we’re doing that along with the Financial Service Committee,” Schiff said.

Both Republicans and Democrats have claimed victory over Mueller’s testimony and Megan McCain, co-host of “The View,” asked Schiff if he saw it as a big win for Democrats.

“I would consider it a win for the American people, that they got to hear from the person who did the investigation. They got to hear unfiltered by anybody else, what he found,” Schiff said.

“If you are measuring whether this is a success in terms of whether it brings us closer to impeachment or not, that was not my object with wanting him to come in.” Schiff added.

ABC

One of the key takeaways from Mueller’s testimony is how deep Russian meddling was in our 2016 elections. Joy Behar, co-host of “The View,” pressed Schiff on how Congress plans to prevent foreign governments from interfering in future elections. Schiff said this was one of the main reasons he wanted Mueller to testify, that he wanted the American people to hear from him on how serious of an issue this is and that all Americans should be concerned.

“This is, you know, one of the other hopes of having Bob Mueller come in, which is to make the case why we need to protect our election’s infrastructure, why we need to re-double our efforts that the Russians have never stopped meddling and they will continue to meddle.” Schiff said. “The reason that will be the most powerful moment in the meeting is he acknowledged this is the new normal that American candidates are going to think it’s OK to receive foreign assistance.”

Schiff also said to the hosts that “the evidence is in plain sight” on the issue of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians.

“The Russians offered dirt of Hillary Clinton in writing and sent it to Don Jr. and Don Jr.’s response was in writing … he accepted the offer,” Schiff said.

Schiff, with his precise questioning in the second of two hearings on Wednesday, made a strong case for why Russian interference in 2016 U.S. elections warranted an investigation and why all American’s should be concerned with how intertwined Trump’s campaign was in their efforts.

Andrew Harnik/AP

“I gather you believe knowingly accepting foreign assistance during a presidential campaign is an unethical thing to do,” Schiff asked Mueller.

“And a crime in given circumstances,” Mueller responded.

“Also unpatriotic,” Schiff added.

“True,” Mueller said.