Adam Schiff Targeted by Republicans for Criticism while Leading Impeachment Inquiry into President Trump
WHITFIELD: As Democrats charge forward with their impeachment inquiry, one man has found himself at the center of the president's ire, House Intel Chairman and Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff. CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash has more.</s>DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll work together with shifty Schiff.</s>DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump thrives on creating political foils, especially in a crisis.</s>TRUMP: Shifty, dishonest guy.</s>BASH: Now that's Adam Schiff, the man spearheading the impeachment inquiry. What this means for Schiff is that there is no room for error. Every move he makes, every word he utters, scrutinized by Republicans and combed for mistakes, like this last month.</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF, (D-CA) CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: We have not spoken directly with the whistleblower.</s>BASH: Schiff now says, quote, "I regret that I wasn't much more clear," because he may not have spoken to the whistleblower, but it turns out his staff did. The whistleblower contacted his committee for guidance and was told to file the complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General, which is what happened. An aide to the Republican run Senate Intelligence Committee said Schiff followed protocol, but that nuance is irrelevant to a president eager to discredit him.</s>TRUMP: He knew long before, and he helped write it too. It's a scam.</s>BASH: Schiff aides and the whistleblower's attorney say that is not true. The committee had no role in writing the whistleblower's complaint. But that did not stop Trump's campaign and conservative media from pushing the false claim.</s>SCHIFF: I have a favor I want from you.</s>BASH: The president is also pummeling Schiff from reading a parody of his call with Ukraine's leader instead of the actual White House summary, though Schiff did introduce it this way.</s>SCHIFF: This is the essence of what the president communicates. You'd better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand, lots of it, on this and on that. I'm going to put you in touch with people, and not just any people.</s>TRUMP: He actually made it up. It should be criminal. It should be treasonous. He made it up, every word of it, made up and read to Congress as though I said it.</s>BASH: The president's hyperbole aside, CNN is told by Democratic sources that Schiff realizes it opened him up to criticism, despite telling Wolf this.</s>SCHIFF: I was mocking the president's comment.</s>REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA) HOUSE SPEAKER: Good morning, everyone.</s>BASH: The House speaker, a big Schiff champion, backs them up.</s>PELOSI: I want them to hear it, so, yes, it's fair. It's sad, but it's using the president's own words.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was an interpretation of the president's words.</s>PELOSI: He did not make it up.</s>BASH: Many House Democratic sources say Pelosi was eager to put Schiff in charge of the impeachment inquiry because of his intellect, savvy, and background as a prosecutor, which, opening statement aside, came across during Q and A with the acting DNI last week.</s>SCHIFF: Is that not an issue of interference in our --</s>BASH: Now more than ever, some colleagues tell CNN, he us is well aware he's under the biggest microscope of his life. I'm told Schiff is also keenly aware of the pitfalls of leading an impeachment inquiry because he was first elected to the House almost 20 years ago in a race against Republican James Rogan, an impeachment manager who argued the case against Bill Clinton in that Senate trial. Voter backlash against Rogan for going overboard, that helped Schiff win. And I'm told lessons from that and what he thinks Republicans did wrong are helping guide him now. Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.</s>WHITFIELD: For more now I want to bring in Mieke Eoyang. She is a Democratic strategist who served as the staff director on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Mieke, good to see you. So in your view, did that mocking that Schiff admits to, did that undermine his credibility, give the president an opening for this kind of unrelenting attack?</s>MIEKE EOYANG, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think the president is looking for any kind of opening he can get against Schiff given how credible the chairman has been at eliciting the evidence of what the president did. I think, really, it's hard for him because the Republicans are trying to make it about his conduct, about the whistleblower process, and not focus on the president's own actions. So I think it is a challenge to manage in this kind of environment where even the slightest thing is going to be turned into an attack.</s>WHITFIELD: So clearly the president, then, in your view, and his allies, are going to great lengths to discredit Schiff and this committee leading this inquiry. But is it your view that this strategy is backfiring, because it seems like the president is just digging in his heals and his supporters are, too?</s>EOYANG: I think the president's really grasping at straws, and you can tell because Republicans have increasingly refused to come out to defend him. So even though he may fill the airways with this kind of attack, he's not winning any allies. He's not winning any support, which he will need as these issues come to a vote in the Congress.</s>WHITFIELD: So Mieke, as someone who has helped lead this committee, what does this process of impeachment inquiry look like behind the scenes, especially when you have the president who is saying to a House Speaker, put it to a vote, put this inquiry to a House vote? So what are the machinations happening?</s>EOYANG: So what you see happening in the House, and you can see this from the letters that have been released, you've got many committees working together to gather evidence. They're talking to witnesses beyond just what the whistleblower said and beyond the transcript that the White House released, people who witnessed what was happening, who can tell you what was the tone when the president said things to the president of Ukraine, what were the side conversations that helped the Ukrainians understand what was going on. And also looking at where is the money. How did money flow around in this circumstance? And Chairman Schiff hired a bunch of investigators who specialize in this area. So I think you can see them very carefully and methodically building a case about the president's actions here.</s>WHITFIELD: But in order to get this information, you need cooperating witnesses, you need cooperation of subpoenas for documents, and this White House is already conveying, by missing some deadlines already, that perhaps they're not so willful. So then what for the committees leading up these investigations?</s>EOYANG: Yes. So you see the White House trying to resist the oversight of the committee, and the committee has been very clear that these steps are evidence of further obstruction. But what you also see is that lower levels, many, many people were witness to this conduct, and many, many people were really concerned about what the president was doing. You already have the president's special representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker come before the committee, give testimony, release very damning text messages of what was happening inside the administration as they were having communications leading up to the president's phone calls with President Zelensky. So you're going to see lots and lots of people coming forward as they realize they can be protected as whistleblowers with inspectors general to provide information to the committees about what the president did.</s>WHITFIELD: Are you at all concerned about the whistleblower complaint and the process of filing that complaint when reportedly the whistleblower went to the intel community and said, essentially, how do I do this? They said, reportedly, get an attorney to help file the complaint, versus the White House is saying that this whistleblower did not follow protocol, therefore the complaint is moot. It's been undermined. What's your view on this?</s>EOYANG: Yes, so I've seen many whistleblower complaints come into Congress all the time, and what I see here is a whistleblower who has gone to great lengths to follow the rules as best they can. And frankly, it's textbook in terms of following the rules that the intelligence committee has laid out here. I actually think these process concerns that Republicans are trying to raise, a, they aren't relative to this whistleblower complaint, but, b, it is trying to distract you from the underlying questions of the president's conduct here. The issue here is not how the whistleblower found out or how the committee found out, but what the president did and what his aides did on his behalf in terms of bringing pressure to bear on a foreign government to advance his own political interests. And that's really the question before Congress.</s>WHITFIELD: And quickly, back to the issue of cooperation or lack thereof, what will this committee -- what will Congressman Schiff do, how will it respond if the White House does stonewall on every over request, whether it's the vice president's documents that have been requested, whether it's testimony of a Mike Pompeo?</s>EOYANG: So what you'll see is them gathering information from lower- level sources who are horrified by this conduct, as we've seen reports of today. And so there will be lots of other evidence of other people who were in the room even if those high-level officials themselves will not provide testimony. And those high-level officials in refusing to comply with the congressional requests will then see themselves accused of obstruction of a congressional inquiry. And that could be really serious. That was one of the articles in the Nixon impeachment was obstructing congressional inquiry. So they could see themselves on the hook for wrongdoing.</s>WHITFIELD: Mieke Eoyang, thank you so much, appreciate it, your time.</s>EOYANG: Thanks.</s>WHITFIELD: Still ahead, a nation in turmoil. Dozens are dead as violent protests erupt all over Iraq. More on the unfolding situation, next.