Rep. Adam Schiff conceded Thursday there is still no evidence President Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia to win the election, and made a point of distancing himself from any charges of treason against the president.
Schiff has been driving the Trump-Russia collusion narrative on behalf of his party for months from his seat on the House Intelligence Committee, claiming recently he has seen “more than circumstantial” evidence of collusion. But he offered nothing substantial to back up his claim when pressed on “The View” to get specific, and acknowledged hard proof of collusion may never materialize, even after an intensive and months-long investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
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“I’ve never used the word treason,” Schiff noted, before listing several “damning” incidents that prove little more than that Russia initiated contact with Trump’s campaign to offer dirt its operatives claimed to have on Hillary Clinton.
“Is it enough for Mueller to bring charges?” host Meghan McCain asked Schiff. “Because if it isn’t enough for Mueller to bring charges, what does that mean? Charges of collusion.”
Schiff responded by claiming it’s not his job to prove collusion happened, but to provide a narrative about what happened to the public.
“Bob Mueller will make the decision whether there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt to indict and convict people,” he said. “It is not his responsibility to tell the country what happened, and indeed there’s no guarantee that the country will ever learn what Bob Mueller finds apart from an indictment. It’s the job of the Congress to tell the American people what happened, whether it reaches the standard beyond a reasonable doubt or we merely find clear and convincing evidence of collusion.”
Translation: If Mueller can’t turn up hard evidence to indict someone, Democrats in Congress will have to rely on a much softer standard of evidence to persuade the public that collusion happened.
“I just think if Mueller doesn’t end up charging him, it’s a lot of smoke and mirrors,” McCain said.
Whoopi Goldberg agreed. “We won’t know,” she concluded.
