The View’s Meghan McCain pressed House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Thursday to reveal his “smoking gun” that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, prompting the congressman to say the “evidence is in plain sight.”
“You have claimed for years now you have a smoking gun of evidence of collusion,” McCain said to Schiff. “Your quote is, ‘ample evidence of collusion.’ You said that, but Robert Mueller and his investigation found that there was no collusion.”
“So can you share with us right here, right now on The View, the evidence that you have and explain why Mueller was wrong yesterday?” McCain demanded.
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After the California lawmaker pointed out that Mueller “wasn’t wrong” and that he specifically said the report “didn’t address the issue of collusion,” McCain fired back.
“What’s your evidence? You have been saying that on TV for years,” she exclaimed.
Schiff, who in March stood by his claims that there was “direct evidence” of Trump collusion by pointing to the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting, replied that he’s “been saying that the evidence is in plain sight” and “not hidden anywhere.”
“The Russians offered dirt on Hillary Clinton in writing and sent it to [Donald Trump Jr.],” Schiff stated. “And Don Jr.’s response was in writing and said, ‘As for your offer of foreign illegal help, I would love it.’ He accepted the offer.”
Noting that Team Trump later lied about the meeting and that represented the “personification of collusion,” Schiff added that Mueller had a different question—whether he could prove the crime of conspiracy.
“And as you know, well before the Mueller report, I was pointing out to the public, there is a difference between what we understand is collusion and whether you can prove all the elements of crime,” he said.
McCain would then move on, asking the House Intel chair if he felt the hearing was a “big win” for Democrats, leading Schiff to respond that he considered it a “win for the American people” as they got to hear the “unfiltered” facts of the investigation directly from Mueller.
“If you are measuring whether this is a success in terms of whether it brings us closer to impeachment or not, that was not my object with wanting him to come in,” he added. “My object was to find out what work did you do.”
Following former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s House testimony, Schiff has downplayed the possibility of impeachment, saying on Thursday that they “need to be realistic” that the president will only leave office “by being voted out” in 2020. Adding that he’s not convinced Democrats should put the country through impeachment, Schiff warned that Trump would feel “exonerated” if he were acquitted by a GOP-led Senate.
