Schiff Goes for Total Coup, Now Targeting Pence in Impeachment Effort
It’s beginning to look like Rep. Adam Schiff isn’t content with simply ousting the president, instead hinting that he’s going for a total sweep of the White House by involving the vice president as well.
The move would seemingly put his ally and fellow California Democrat, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in charge of the United States.
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee hinted at the bombshell turn in a Dec. 18 talk with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
Maddow asked Schiff about his continuing role in the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
“You seem to still be pulling on some threads here, including some potentially provocative and consequential ones,” she said. “I’m thinking specifically about a letter that you sent to the vice president’s office this week in which you raise questions as to what the vice president knew about the president’s behavior, the president’s scheme in Ukraine, and thereby essentially his potential involvement in any coverup of that behavior by the president.
“Are you actively looking at Vice President Mike Pence and his role in this scandal, and should we expect further revelations either related to the vice president or related to the other core parts of these allegations that have resulted in this impeachment tonight?”
Schiff, in his usual habit of claiming to have overwhelming and damning evidence against his political enemies, said he now has something on Vice President Mike Pence.
“We have acquired a piece of evidence,” he said, “a classified submission by [Pence aide] Jennifer Williams, something that she alluded to in her open testimony that, in going back and looking through her records, she found other information that was pertinent to that phone call that we had asked her about and made that submission. …
“That submission does shed light on the vice president’s knowledge.”
Williams testified in Trump’s impeachment hearing about the president’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, drawing his ire on Twitter.
Tell Jennifer Williams, whoever that is, to read BOTH transcripts of the presidential calls, & see the just released ststement from Ukraine. Then she should meet with the other Never Trumpers, who I don’t know & mostly never even heard of, & work out a better presidential attack!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 17, 2019
It remains to be seen whether the “piece of evidence” Schiff mentioned exists, given the congressman’s record on such assertions.
Pence previously shut down an attempt by Schiff to access sensitive documents for no reason.
“It just goes to show that there is a body of evidence,” Schiff later continued, “documentary and otherwise, that administration figures from the president on down to include the vice president do not want the American people to see or know.
“The question is, will they succeed? Will the coverup succeed? Or will the Senate insist on what we were not able to obtain in the House, and that is a White House that will comply with lawful process.”
If the Democrats were to succeed in impeaching and removing both Trump and Pence, this would constitute a virtual clean slate in the White House. Pelosi, who as speaker would be next in line for the presidency after the vice president, would become the nation’s highest executive.
With impeachment stalled because of Pelosi’s refusal to send articles of impeachment to the Senate, it looks like Schiff’s apparent plan at a total coup is now in limbo.
Although wrapping up Pence in impeachment proceedings might win the approval of the Democrats’ more extreme base, it would likely only serve to turn even more Americans against the attempt to oust Trump.
Even now, the decidedly partisan impeachment effort has given Republicans record-breaking fundraising hauls as everyday citizens rally around their rightfully elected officials.
While Democrats can now say they’ve voted to impeach Trump, as some of them had long promised, it remains to be seen what effect this will have on the party in the 2020 elections.
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