Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff said Tuesday on MSNBC that Republican presidential hopefuls are damaging democracy by calling out an alleged two-tiered system of justice.
Schiff said he is “deeply concerned” that national security could have been compromised as a result of former President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. Trump is set to be arraigned Tuesday in a Miami federal court after he was indicted Friday with dozens of charges.
“I also want to call out a separate national security risk, and that is with all of these Republican presidential hopefuls attacking the Justice Department, calling this illegitimate, even those who are criticizing the president, still criticizing the department, anyone who reads that indictment sees how necessary it was to bring these charges,” Schiff argued. (RELATED: Rep. Byron Donalds, CNN Host Go Back And Forth On Trump Indictment Case)
“The Kevin McCarthy’s, Jim Jordan’s, presidential hopefuls, are breeding discredit about the Justice Department, disbelief and a distrust of it which means that FBI agents in the future are going to have a harder time getting cooperating witnesses, juries are going to be more suspicious, and that, too, is a danger to our national security.”
“Donald Trump and his enablers in Congress are going to be doing all the politicking, the prosecutors are doing the prosecuting,” Schiff said. “These outside the courtroom attacks on our system of justice do real damage to the democracy. Some of these presidential hopefuls have prosecutorial experience. They understand the serious nature of these allegations, they understand how this case is to be distinguished from other cases and it is completely disingenuous of them and what more, it is dangerous to attack the justice system this way.”
Schiff was removed from his position on the House Intelligence Committee in January after Republicans accused him of leaking classified information. Trump also accused Schiff in Feb. of 2020 of leaking classified information on alleged Russian interference. Schiff’s team has denied the allegations.
Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy announced he filed a FOIA demand against the Department of Justice requesting any records held by the department in relation to Trump’s indictment be released.
Ramaswamy alleged the “DOJ is being politicized and weaponized against the political opponents of the sitting President of the United States. The existence, timing and content of the indictment all necessitate both this request, and, one would hope, a completely open and forthright response,” the FOIA request reads.
Former Vice President and candidate Mike Pence said he was “deeply troubled” by the indictment, alleging the department has become politicized.