White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said if House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff agrees to testify in the impeachment inquiry, she would be happy to do the same.
“He’s a fact witness,” Conway said Monday during a gaggle with reporters at the White House. “If Adam Schiff testifies, I’ll show up on behalf of the White House.”
Conway was echoing a narrative Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill have been pushing, suggesting Schiff had improper contacts with the intelligence community whistleblower whose report sparked the Democrat-led impeachment investigation.
The House Judiciary Committee this week is set to hold public hearings examining the legal standard for impeachment and whether President Trump’s pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over military aid meet that standard.
Conway said Democrats have backed themselves into a corner on impeachment and are opening themselves up to losing valuable seats in swing districts where support for the president is high.
“We see the independents pulling away from the Democratic point of view,” Conway said. “We see these 31 Democrats in Trump-Pence districts getting earfuls when they go home from a lot of people saying why aren’t you working for us.”
Trump has routinely dismissed the impeachment proceedings as a “partisan witch hunt” and has celebrated how some Republicans and his base have rallied behind him.
Over the weekend, the White House legal team indicated it does not intend to comply with congressional subpoenas administered as part of what it said was a “sham” impeachment process.
