A new book describes the internal conflict between top House Democrats in the time between the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and the impeachment investigation into President Trump.
At the center of this power struggle that played out last year was House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling the shots.
Daily Signal reporter Fred Lucas writes in his book Abuse of Power that Pelosi grew frustrated with underwhelming and rocky hearings held by Nadler with Mueller, who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election, and Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign manager who openly mocked Democrats during the event. This led to her to prefer Schiff to lead the Ukraine-focused impeachment case against Trump that followed.
“Nancy Pelosi, after she saw Mueller, was upset. When she saw Corey Lewandowski’s thing, she basically said, ‘Nadler is done. We are not going to him for an impeachment,'” Lucas wrote, quoting a “senior level Judiciary Committee source.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Pelosi’s, Schiff’s, and Nadler’s offices for comment on the book’s characterization of events.
So far, only Nadler spokesman Daniel Schwarz has responded.
“Are you saying Judiciary and Nadler were not involved in impeachment?” he said. Upon further clarification that the inquiry was to seek comment on whether the book accurately portrays what happened between the release of the Mueller report and Trump’s impeachment trial, Schwartz responded, “Right, I’m asking if Nadler and Judiciary were uninvolved in the impeachment hearings, article drafting, floor debate, and then Senate trial.” He did not immediately respond to a third request for comment.
Mueller gave testimony to the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees in July 2019, and many were surprised at the prosecutor’s tired demeanor. On several occasions, he appeared to forget critical details within his report.
“I have known Bob Mueller for a long time. I have tremendous respect for him. I think he is just an amazing human being and public servant. He was not the man that I knew just in terms of his strength of presence, and so it was quite surprising,” Schiff said in May, reflecting on the hearings.
They were high-stakes appearances by the former FBI director, who is now 76. Mueller ended his two-year investigation into foreign interference in late March, concluding that Russia interfered in the election in a “sweeping and systematic fashion” but not establishing that the Trump campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy. The report, however, did lay out 10 potential instances of Trump obstructing justice, which Democrats viewed as a road map for impeachment.
Ultimately, the Mueller hearings were a “fatal political blow for Nadler and boost for Schiff,” Lucas wrote.
“When Mueller came in and Nadler had promised this grand presentation from Mr. Mueller, that was the biggest dud and undermining of what they were doing,” the book said, quoting the same Judiciary Committee source.
“The ambitious Schiff seemed to know what was coming and might well have been planning to seize the much-desired impeachment banner away from the beleaguered Nadler,” Lucas said.
The bitter impeachment fight began with the emergence of a whistleblower complaint about a July 25, 2019, phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. A transcript of this conversation, released by the White House, appeared to show Trump urging his Ukrainian counterpart to announce an investigation involving former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic candidate for president, and his son Hunter Biden.
Democrats accused Trump of engaging in an unlawful “quid pro quo,” withholding military aid and a White House meeting in exchange for such an announcement. Meanwhile, Schiff faced criticism from Republicans who raised concerns when it was revealed that a member of his staff spoke to the intelligence community whistleblower before the complaint was filed.
According to Lucas, Pelosi chose Schiff to lead the prosecution after his office played a pivotal role in bringing news of the whistleblower complaint to the forefront and Nadler failed to produce results. “Schiff was named to lead the crew, marking the third time he led a Senate impeachment team, after the federal judge trials in 2009 and 2010. Nadler didn’t even get a co-captain role, showing how far his stock had fallen,” Lucas wrote.
The contentious dynamic was on display during the impeachment trial when Nadler unexpectedly paced past Schiff to answer a question by Chief Justice John Roberts. “Jerry. Jerry. Jerry,” Schiff was heard saying in attempts to stop Nadler from seizing the microphone.
Before that incident, Schiff cut off a reporter’s question to Nadler during a press conference, asserting that he was “going to respond to the questions.”
“Schiff talked for about four minutes on impeachment rules, then asked for other questions. But Nadler jumped in to say. ‘Let me add something here.’ The chairmen of the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees were clearly not reading from the same script,” Lucas wrote.
Trump was acquitted in the Senate of the two charges, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, earlier this year.
