House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) failed to turn up this week or last in the House Judiciary Committee to present his impeachment report, but found time for late-night comedian Stephen Colbert.
As Breitbart News Entertainment Editor Jerome Hudson reported, Schiff appeared on CBS’ The Late Show Thursday evening to attack Republicans, suggesting that if they oppose impeachment, they oppose the Constitution:
“For some of our members, who are defending the Constitution, it is their finest hour,” Adam Schiff told Colbert. “But for others, who are willfully blinding themselves to this president’s misconduct, it is the most shameful hour.”
Schiff’s appearance with Colbert came just a day before the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance articles of impeachment against President Trump to the full House of Representatives over his contacts with Ukraine. The articles — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — were approved by a party-line vote of 23 to 17.
Schiff declined to attend the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Monday at which the Intelligence Committee’s 300-page report was presented and debated. Instead, he sent his committee’s Democrat counsel, Daniel Goldman.
He also failed to attend the hearing of legal experts in the Judiciary Committee the week before.
The chairman’s absence was a notable departure from past impeachments, when those conducting the fact-finding investigation — such as Independent Counsel Ken Starr, in the impeachment of Bill Clinton — delivered testimony and faced questioning from both sides of the aisle.
Republicans were visibly irritated by Schiff’s absence, and at one point displayed a mock-up milk carton with his face and the caption: “MISSING.”
Democrats voted Friday to pass two articles of impeachment anyway.
President Donald Trump and other Republicans have suggested that Schiff ought to be called as a witness in a Senate impeachment trial — not only because of his report, but also because of his contacts with the so-called “whistleblower” whose complaint initiated the investigation of the president.
In addition, Republicans want to question Schiff about his decision to obtain and publish the private phone records of Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), journalist John Solomon, and presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani, among others.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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