Despite a two-year special counsel investigation that concluded there was no collusion and no obstruction committed by President Donald Trump or associates in his campaign or administration, some Democrats in Congress continue to insist that Trump is guilty of committing some sort of crime for which he should be indicted, convicted, and imprisoned.
California Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is one of those Democrats, and he reiterated his belief on Sunday that Trump could well be indicted for unspecified crimes as soon as he leaves the White House.
Grasping at straws
Schiff’s remarks came during an appearance Sunday on CBS News’ Face the Nation hosted by Margaret Brennan, with the first topics of discussion being the president’s supposedly “racist” feud with “the squad” of four freshmen congresswomen as well as Schiff’s views on Robert Mueller’s upcoming testimony on Capitol Hill.
The congressman said he hoped the Mueller hearing would help “bring (the report) to life”so Democrats could show the American people the “pretty damning set of facts” that he believed were contained within its 400-plus pages.
Then Brennan moved to the topic of the potential for criminal indictments from the Justice Department against Trump once he left office, which she reminded Schiff was something he had said in 2018 was a “very real prospect.”
However, she also noted that the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York recently closed its investigation into alleged campaign finance violations by Trump — something many Democrats fervently hoped would be Trump’s downfall — without any indictments, arrests or prosecutions.
Relentless
“Does this prove your predictions wrong that this case is closed?” Brennan asked. Schiff replied, “No, not at all.”
After first noting the DOJ’s standing principle of not indicting a sitting president, Schiff said, “But he is a — essentially unindicted co-conspirator. He’s been identified as an Individual One, as the person who directed Michael Cohen to commit this fraudulent campaign scheme.”
“And I assume that all this means, in terms of the Southern District of New York, is that the case will be reopened when he leaves office, providing the statute of limitations has not run, and the Justice Department will have to weigh whether to indict the former president,” he continued.
“From my point of view, if the evidence supports that, he should be indicted,” Schiff said, and added a moment later, “He is not above the law. He may have a temporary reprieve while he occupies that office. But I think the Justice Department will have to seriously consider reopening the case if that’s what it requires and indicting him when he leaves office.”
Case closed
The SDNY’s investigation into alleged campaign finance violations revolved around the hush-money payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy centerfold model Karen McDougal to buy their silence on affairs they claimed to have had with Trump many years ago.
Despite Cohen having pleaded guilty to violations of campaign finance laws for his role in facilitating those payments, legal experts have determined — and apparently the SDNY has concurred — that the hush-money payments did not constitute campaign finance violations and no actual crime was committed.
Thus, Schiff and the rest of the Democrats stand to be very disappointed once again as the supposed offenses they’ve accused Trump of committing turn out not to be crimes at all, and the indictments they fervently hope will be issued never materialize.
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