Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) reportedly covets the House speakership for himself.
With rumors of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) retiring amid devastating midterm polling, Schiff, a conspiracy theorist and chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, is making furious moves to succeed Pelosi as House leader if she retires, according to Punchbowl News.
Schiff so covets the leadership position that he has already tried to convince fellow Democrat colleagues of the validity of his desires. To hype his potential candidacy, Schiff has touted the millions in campaign funds he has raised. Schiff has also recently attended the New Democrats’ retreat, which raised eyebrows among “several insiders [who] took particular notice” of his presence.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) answers questions with House Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Shiff (D-CA) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images).
Schiff’s desire to become speaker of the House would be a shocking career acceleration. He has been consistently wrong on many foreign policy issues. He was most famously a strong advocate of the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. Schiff argued for months that the evidence against President Donald Trump was “hiding in plain sight.” He has also fundraised off of the hoax.
It may not be a surprise that Schiff is a close confidant of Pelosi. Both Schiff and Pelosi are from California. In 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported that Pelosi “has quietly been grooming potential successors, among them Rep. Adam Schiff.” But other Democrats have also been eyeing Pelosi’s position. Among those are Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the majority leader of the House.
Schiff may decide not to run for speaker of the House because of his foreign policy track record. Punchbowl noted several Democrats “also wondered if Schiff really wants to stay in the House or if it’s just a stepping stone to bigger ambitions – such as running for Senate.”
“But we were told that the House seems more appealing at this moment for Schiff than the Senate,” the outlet said.
For Schiff to become speaker, Democrats would have to keep the majority after the November midterms. Pelosi, the most unpopular congressional Democrat, would also need to retire, a move Pelosi insists will not occur.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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