Adam Schiff on Trump’s Ukraine scandal: Impeachment ‘may be the only remedy’
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Sunday said reports that President Donald Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential front-runner, may warrant impeachment, HuffPost reports.
Like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has been reluctant to support an impeachment inquiry into the president, despite calls from many of their fellow Democrats to do so.
Schiff, during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said Democrats may have no other choice than to move forward with impeachment if it’s proved that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine while trying to “browbeat a foreign leader into doing something illicit.”
Impeachment “would be an extraordinary remedy ― a remedy of last resort, not first resort,” Schiff told host Jake Tapper, adding that it “may be the only remedy that is co-equal to the evil” Trump’s alleged conduct represents.
The House Intelligence Committee has opened an investigation into a whistleblower complaint filed by a U.S. intelligence official last month involving allegations of dealings between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The complaint reportedly described a July phone call in which the U.S. president repeatedly urged Zelensky to work with Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to investigate Biden’s anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Trump claims Biden called for the removal of a notoriously corrupt prosecutor in Ukraine to impede an investigation into a Ukrainian gas company of which Biden’s son, Hunter, was a member of the board. Ukraine’s prosecutor general has said there’s no evidence of any wrongdoing by Biden.
Trump acknowledged Sunday that he discussed Biden during a phone call with Zelensky but denied having said anything inappropriate. “It was a perfect conversation,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.
The explosive allegations, which could amount to a U.S. president seeking assistance from a foreign government to help his reelection campaign, if true, have reignited calls for impeachment from many Democrats.