Rep. Adam Schiff on Why He Believes AG Barr Should Step Down

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, CONGRESSMAN: Because it was clear before he began his testimony when the Mueller letter was revealed that he had deliberately misled the Congress. He was asked very specifically a couple weeks ago whether he was familiar with concerns that had been reportedly raised by the Mueller team about the accuracy of his four-page summary, and Barr’s answer was an unequivocal no. Well, that was false. He was aware of it, because he spoke to Mueller directly about it, because Mueller put his concerns in writing. So, that was a deliberately false statement. And coming on the heels of misleading summaries that he had given the public, a false narrative he had supplied to the White House, his ability to be an impartial top law enforcement officer of the country has been so called into question, I don’t think he can effectively serve as attorney general, and I do think he should step down.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, before we ask you how you’re going to manage that issue, let us play this particular piece of testimony that you’ve just referred to. It was in answer to Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Because I’m not asking what’s in the Mueller report, I’m asking about your conclusion. Let me ask you this —

WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: It was the conclusion of a number of people, including me, and I obviously am the attorney general. It was also the conclusion of the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein.

VAN HOLLEN: I understand. No, I’ve read your letters.

BARR: And I will discuss that decision after the report —

VALL HOLLEN: Did bob Mueller support your conclusion?

BARR: I don’t know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So, it’s a tiny bit different than what you said. You said it was an unequival no, he said, “I don’t know.” Do you still standby the fact that that was misleading?

SCHIFF: Well, actually that’s a different exchange that you played. The exchange I`m referring to was on the House side with Representative Charlie Christ where Charlie asked him in a way that was uncandidly similar to the contents of the Mueller letter, “Are you aware of concerns by the Mueller team that your four-page letter essentially lacks the context, lacks an accurate summarization of the Mueller report,” and his answer was “no.” That was directly false and I think even more unequivocal than with respect to the Chris Van Hollen questions you just played back. So, that’s what I’m referring to.

AMANPOUR: OK. So, now that you say that he should step down. What method is going to achieve that? Do you believe that Congress has the will, the power, to start such a process?

SCHIFF: Well, I mean, here’s the dilemma that we face with an attorney general not doing his job, with a president who we believe has committed various acts of obstruction of justice, and that is, there’s no Howard Baker in this Watergate scenario, there is no Republican of stature willing to stand up to this president. And we saw, I think, on display among the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing an utter willingness to carry the president’s water, no matter how unethically the president behaves.