Schiff becomes key Democrat in battle with Trump
BY MORGAN CHALFANT - 10/01/19 06:00 AM EDT 8,456
Trump has previously mocked the Intelligence chairman as “pencil-neck Adam Schiff,” a moniker his campaign turned into T-shirts.
Republicans piled on Schiff in March following the conclusion of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Schiff had said on cable news that there was evidence of collusion “in plain sight”; the special counsel ultimately said he did not uncover sufficient evidence to charge members or associates of the Trump campaign with conspiring with Russia.
Those close to the White House and Trump’s campaign see Schiff as an easy target, claiming his past commentary on the Mueller probe has shown him to be a partisan.
“This is an effective hit because one thing that, I think, most people can see whenever they see Adam Schiff go on TV is just how transparently partisan he really is,” said one former White House official.
“This is the logical response for Pelosi deputizing Adam Schiff to be the face of her impeachment inquiry,” the former official continued.
Mieke Eoyang, a former House Intelligence staffer who worked with Schiff, argued that the president’s latest attacks show the White House sees Schiff as a threat.
“I think it is very clear to everyone that Chairman Schiff has been the most effective at building the case against the president through his questioning,” Eoyang said.
Eoyang also said she doesn’t expect Schiff to be “rattled” by the president’s attacks.
It was Schiff who first disclosed the existence of the nebulous whistleblower complaint on Sept. 13, issuing a subpoena to Maguire to turn over its contents to Congress.
Details about the complaint dealing with Ukraine began to leak out through the press the following week, though the administration continued to rebuff requests from Congress about it, arguing that it didn’t meet the legal definition of an “urgent concern” requiring disclosure to Capitol Hill.
Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry last Tuesday, and by Thursday the White House had released a rough transcript of the Zelensky call and allowed for the release of the whistleblower complaint to Congress and the public.
The partial transcript showed that Trump asked Zelensky to investigate unsubstantiated allegations about Biden as well as details about Russia’s 2016 election interference.
During opening remarks at the hearing with Maguire last week, Schiff dramatized his reading of the call, describing Trump as saying on the call that he would tell Zelensky “seven times” to “make up dirt on my political opponent,” which earned him criticism from Republicans. Schiff later termed the reading a “parody” of the call, something he said should have been obvious.
Rep. Jefferson Van Drew (D-N.J.), a freshman representing a competitive district, praised Schiff's overall handling of the hearing but acknowledged it would have been better to read directly from the primary source document, saying, "I think you should just state what it says, in my opinion."
But Van Drew said that the Intelligence Committee's hearing with Maguire was an improvement over the Judiciary Committee's chaotic and combative hearing with former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski a week before.
“I liked that it wasn't like the Lewandowski [hearing]. That was a very charged meeting, everybody was yelling at each other, demeaning each other. And it was both sides. It was everybody. I would rather see a methodical, careful approach to investigations,” Van Drew said.
Cristina Marcos contributed.
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