During an interview broadcast on Thursday’s edition of “CBS Evening News,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) responded to a question on whether he can assure Republicans that Democrats won’t block witnesses by stating that he wants to hear which witnesses Republicans want to call and that he is concerned that Republicans will “propose a bunch of witnesses that have no bearing, that they can use merely to smear the president’s opponents or for other improper purposes.”
Host Norah O’Donnell asked, “Republicans say they’re concerned that the Democrats will block the witnesses that they want to hear from. Can you assure them that you won’t reject those witnesses?”
Schiff responded, “Well, we’ve asked them for proffer of which witnesses they think are relevant, and I have to say, we have concerns that they’re going to propose a bunch of witnesses that have no bearing, that they can use merely to smear the president’s opponents or for other improper purposes. It’s important to note that, to the contrary of what they have been saying, in both Clinton and the Nixon impeachments, the minority did not have the right to call witnesses on their own unilaterally. They could call for a vote, but it was a majority vote, that they were not assured of winning. So, we would love to hear who they’re interested in having come before the committee. But given the kind of circus-like tactics, the storming of the SCIF and all the stunts the president puts them up to, we can’t surrender the process to the minority party.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.