Adam Schiff: Trump Couldn’t Get Ukraine to Smear Bidens, So His Team Will Use Trial to Do It Instead

In making his closing arguments tonight in the impeachment trial, Congressman Adam Schiff took a few minutes to offer a “prebuttal” of sorts to arguments he said President Donald Trump’s team would likely make when it’s their turn to present their case.

“You can expect attacks on all kinds of members of the House that have nothing to do with the issues before you,” Schiff said. “And when you hear those attacks, you should ask yourself, away from what do they want to distract my attention? Because nine times out of ten, it will be the president’s misconduct, but look for it. Attacks on the managers, attacks on other House members, attacks on the Speaker, attacks on who knows what. It’s all of the same ilk. Whatever you do, just don’t consider the president’s misconduct.”

He took shots at arguments from Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr and brought up likely attacks on the whistleblower, before responding to the argument that “they hate the president.”

“Now, what I’ve said, I will leave you to your own judgments about the president. I only hate what he’s done to this country,” Schiff said. “I grieve for what he’s done to this country. But when they make the argument to you that this is only happening because they hate the president, it is just another of the myriad forms of ‘Please do not consider what the president did.'”

He also argued that going after the Bidens will be the Trump team’s way of achieving what Trump’s initial goal with Ukraine was:

“You’ve heard the further defense that Biden is corrupt, that Joe Biden is corrupt, that Hunter Biden is corrupt. This is their defense… because what they hope to achieve in the Senate trial is what they couldn’t achieve through their scheme. If they couldn’t get Ukraine to smear the Bidens, they want to use this trial to do it instead. So let’s call Hunter Biden. Let’s smear the Bidens. Let’s succeed in the trial of what we couldn’t do with this scheme. That’s the goal.”

You can watch above, via CNN.