House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff skirted around the question of whether he would adhere to a subpoena to testify in a Senate impeachment trial against President Trump.
The California Democrat, who led the House impeachment hearings, claimed during Monday’s episode of The View that submitting to Republican witness demands would turn the trial into a “sham.”
Referring to Trump’s tweet over the weekend calling for Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi be witnesses, co-host Abby Huntsman, who announced she is leaving The View after two seasons to help run her father’s gubernatorial campaign in Utah, asked, “Would you, if asked, be willing to testify, if subpoenaed?”
Schiff argued that it would not make sense for him and Pelosi to be called to testify on Trump’s actions related to Ukraine, which are subject to the impeachment effort.
“Look, I’m not a fact witness. So, other than mollifying the president, I’m not sure why the Senate would call me or Nancy Pelosi as a witness,” he said.
As impeachment was underway in the House last year, Republicans named Schiff as someone they wanted to testify, as well as the intelligence community whistleblower who contacted a member of his staff before filing the complaint that sparked the impeachment effort.
Democrats are pushing Republican Senate leadership to demand top Trump aides to testify, including former national security adviser John Bolton, who last week said he would testify in a Senate trial if subpoenaed. Pelosi, another California Democrat, taunted Trump on Monday, tweeting that he is “too afraid” to allow witnesses at his trial.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has so far resisted the pressure to agree on allowing any witnesses to testify, but some of Trump’s Republican allies would like to see former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden also make an appearance.
Trump pressuring Ukraine to announce an investigation into the Bidens while delaying congressionally approved military aid are at the heart of the impeachment effort, but Schiff opined that they would not be able to shed “much light” on Trump’s conduct.
“Then why not have them show up and say, ‘If you have nothing to hide, then come out there and tell the American people that’?” Huntsman asked.
“It would convert the Senate trial into the same kind of a sham proceeding that the president sought to have Ukraine undertake,” Schiff said.
