Adam Schiff Says Congress Should Still Go After Trump ‘Outside the Context of Impeachment’

As support for impeachment grows among Democrats, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) said that Congress should continue to conduct oversight of President Donald Trump “outside the context of impeachment” even after Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s bombshell press conference.

After Mueller’s press conference stressing his lack of confidence that Trump didn’t commit crimes, many more Democrats came on board to support an impeachment inquiry.

But on Sunday morning’s edition of This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Schiff maintained that the time is not right for impeachment.

“You’ve been supporting the speaker as she holds the line against impeachment, but the pressure is building,” host George Stephanopoulos said. “Can you hold the line?”

“Well, look, I think we’re going to do what’s right for the country and at this point, the speaker has not reached the conclusion, and I haven’t had either, that it’s best for the country to put us through an impeachment proceeding that we know is destined for failure in the Senate,” Schiff said, adding that “that calculus may change if the president continues to stonewall, if the president continues to demonstrate his unfitness for office.”

He added that “We have an important legislative agenda to try to advance, we have important oversight work we can do outside the context of impeachment, and I think at this point that is still the preferred course.”

“But it could still strengthen your hand against the Department of Justice in court, and opening an inquiry isn’t the same as reaching a final judgment on impeachment,” Stephanopoulos said. “Why does the evidence laid out by Mueller require at least opening up that inquiry?”

“Well of course Mueller didn’t say that what he was presenting required impeachment in the same way he didn’t comment on the question of indictment,” Schiff said, adding “And by the way, I think Bill Barr is completely disingenuous in saying that it would have been perfectly fine for Mueller to say the president was a criminal, I just can’t indict him. If that’s the way Barr feels, then perhaps he should let the Southern District of New York know that they can say, individual 1, the president of the United States should be charged when he leaves office.”

“But in terms of the impeachment process, it’s not mandated by the Constitution,” Schiff continued. “We can avail ourselves of this when the president demonstrates acts that are high crimes or misdemeanors. It is certainly true, I think that much of his conduct qualifies for that. But at the same time, we have to recognize the reality that one party, the Republican party has turned itself into a cult of the president’s personality and is not likely to act consistent with its Constitutional obligations. And we have to figure out in that context, is this the right thing for the country, and I’m just not convinced, not yet, that that’s the case.”

Watch the clip above, via ABC.