Adam Schiff Takes a Shot at Merrick Garland, Says Jan. 6 House Probe Is ‘So Far Out Ahead of the Justice Department’
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who serves on the House Jan. 6 select committee, criticized Attorney General Merrick Garland over the seemingly slow pace of the Department of Justice’s probe into high-level figures connected to the deadly 2021 Capitol riot incited by Donald Trump.
Appearing on The Beat with Ari Melber on MSNBC Wednesday, Schiff reacted to a clip of Mueller investigation prosecutor Andrew Weissman from Tuesday’s show.
“The Department of Justice has more tools – not fewer tools – than Congress to get at the truth,” Weissman said, echoing a piece he wrote in the New York Times that was critical of the Garland DOJ. Weissman said the Jan. 6 committee’s hearings “have revealed evidence of a plot orchestrated by Mr. Trump and his allies in the White House and elsewhere.”
Melber noted that the committee appears to have spoken to multiple witnesses before the DOJ and asked Schiff for his reaction to Weissman’s appearance on his show the previous day.
“Do you share Mr. Weismann’s concern Could the DOJ be doing more, quickly?” asked Melber.
“I very much share his concern,” replied Schiff. “I have been expressing a similar concern, really, for months now. It is so unprecedented, and I’ve been part of many congressional investigations that have been contemporaneous with justice department investigations, but it is unprecedented for Congress to be so far out ahead of the justice department.”
He added that the DOJ has “potent tools to get information” and even said the Fulton County district attorney’s investigation into Trump’s phone call pressuring Georgia’s secretary of state to fabricate votes in his favor is “way ahead” of the DOJ.
Schiff called the lack of movement “a cause for great concern.”
“Are they afraid of the answer?” Melber asked. “In other words, if the answer becomes overwhelmingly terminal evidence against Trump and they have it, then it puts more onus on them in the eyes of people inside the department.”
“I don’t think that it’s they’re afraid,” Schiff answered, before noting the “terrible leadership” the department had under former Attorney General Bill Barr. “And I think there’s a desire at the justice department to restore the independence of the department to avoid controversy.”
Schiff said he’s concerned that this desire could be taken to excessive lengths.
“I think if they take that too far – the desire to avoid controversy – and they somehow in practical effect immunize the former president because it would be controversial to investigate a former president, that’s a political decision and I think a very dangerous one,” Schiff stated.
Watch above, via MSNBC.
