Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” that he was not surprised that the Trump organization was part of an indictment because he said former President Donald Trump was a “grifter from start to finish.”
Discussing reports the indictments will be announced Thursday, Schiff said, “I will be looking for what kind of evidence is indicated in the indictments, how specific they are. But, look, I think this is not uncommon at all. It may be a very narrow indictment. It may be just the opening salvo in terms of the prosecution.”
Anchor Lawrence O’Donnell asked, “Does this feel like an inevitable turn of events for someone who has behaved the way you have seen him behave up close in the presidency?”
Schiff said, “Yes, this is a grifter from start to finish. He brought his swamp from New York with him to the Oval office. This is a guy who used his charitable foundation as a personal and political slush fund. Can we really be surprised that the same organization, albeit the business end, not the foundation, would now be the subject of indictment? At the same time while I thought the indictment of the corporation was likely. I still think it is a steep hill to climb to indict a former president. The quality and the quantity of the evidence will have to be very significant.”
He added, “Everything about Donald Trump’s life, everything about his every day in office spells corruption. None of this is surprising. It is just the same sort of grift in private practice he imported to the White House.”
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