Schiff becomes key Democrat in battle with Trump

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has become the public face of the House Democratic impeachment drive, making him a focal point of President Trump’s attacks on the effort.

Trump has zeroed in on Schiff, calling on him to resign and suggesting he be investigated and potentially jailed for “treason” while defending his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

During the call, Trump pressed for investigations into 2016 election interference and former Vice President Joe Biden, after asking Zelensky for a “favor.” The call triggered a complaint from a whistleblower within the administration, and now threatens to lead to Trump’s impeachment.

Schiff played a central role in forcing information about the whistleblower’s complaint into the public domain, raising his own profile in the drama and putting the 10-term Democrat on a collision course with the White House.

Trump has tweeted about Schiff roughly a dozen times since Thursday, the day the Intelligence panel publicly questioned acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire about the administration’s handling of the whistleblower complaint.

“The president believes that it is his God-given right to shake down foreign leaders for help in his re-election, and he should not be encumbered by the public finding out about it,” Schiff, a former prosecutor and  close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

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Article URL : https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/463723-schiff-becomes-key-democrat-in-battle-with-trump