Adam Schiff Cites Washington Post Editorial Against Trump in Senate Trial

Lead House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) used an opinion article by the editorial board of the Washington Post in an attempt to prove the facts of his case against President Donald Trump in opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial Wednesday evening.

Schiff cited the editorial board, which has taken a staunch anti-Trump line since the 2015-6 election, as if its opinion ought to be considered compelling evidence by the Senate.

He said:

On September 25th [sic], the Washington Post editorial board reported concerns that President Trump was withholding military assistance for Ukraine, and a White House meeting, in order to force President Zelensky to announce investigations of Vice President Biden and purported Ukrainian interference in the U.S. election.

The Post editorial board wrote: “[W]e are reliably told that the president has a second and more venal agenda. He is attempting to force Mr. Zelensky to intervene in the 2020 presidential election by launching an investigation of the leading Democratic candidate, Joe Biden. Mr. Trump is not just soliciting Ukraine’s help with his presidential campaign; he is using military aid the country desperately needs in an attempt to extort it.

The editorial in question, clearly marked “Opinion,” was published Sep. 5 and bore the title: “Trump tries to force Ukraine to meddle in the 2020 election.”

It is unclear who “reliably told” the Post what the president’s agenda was, though Schiff himself is widely suspected of having leaked information from the House Intelligence Committee investigation, or allowing such leaks to occur.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.