Thursday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) continued his call for Attorney General Bill Barr to step down, saying in the wake of Barr’s testimony from the day before that he is “every bit as unfit for office” as President Donald Trump.
Schiff said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Barr lied to Congress during his Wednesday hearing and has been working as Trump’s “PR spokesperson,” which he said ultimately is a “recipe for lawlessness.”
Partial transcript as follows:
[F]rankly what I saw even before the hearing prompted me to call for his resignation and that is he testified falsely before Congress. After misleading the American people about what was in the Robert Mueller report, effectively acting as a PR spokesperson for the president instead of the top law enforcement officer in the country, he was asked a direct question by Charlie Crist. He understood exactly what Representative Crist was asking him and he testified falsely — deliberately and falsely.
How can we have confidence in the top law enforcement officer in the land who does that? But if I needed any more reason, I certainly got it during the hearing and I think you have pointed out this morning the most dangerous thing the attorney general had to say, and something that makes him every bit as unfit for office as the president, and that is he gave content to his view that the president is above the law.
If a president under investigation can do away with the investigation because he thinks it’s unfair, then no president can be held accountable. Any president can claim that any investigation is unfair. And particularly, if you can’t look into the president’s corrupt motive, if you can’t call them to account, if you can’t subpoena them to answer questions, then they’re effectively above the law. And, you know, I have to say if that’s the view of the attorney general vis-a vis the president, it’s probably the view of attorney general as to himself.
Could the attorney general be taken up on perjury charges for lying to Congress? He would probably take the view that he could quash that case because he’d believe it to be unfair. That is a recipe for lawlessness.
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent