November 21, 2022

ABC's Jonathan Karl interviewed Rep. Adam Schiff, asking whether the January 6th committee will make a criminal referral against former President Donald Trump. The Justice Department just named a special counsel, Jack Smith, to oversee multiple investigations into the one-term president. The possibility of an indictment seems likely.

"I mean, the timing is extraordinary," Karl said. "You really could have, if he gets indicted, a trial and a presidential campaign happening at the same time."

"You could. And -- you know, look, for four years when he was president, the Department took the position, which I think is flawed as a constitutional matter, that you can't indict a sitting president,' Schiff said. "You can't now take the position while you also can't indict a former president who wants to run again. Otherwise, that president becomes above the law, and the founders would have never subscribed to that idea."

"What does this mean about the January 6th Committee's deliberations about a criminal referral?" Karl asked. "Will you be making a criminal referral or referrals?"

"We're in the midst of reaching a conclusion on that right now, should we make referrals, what kind of referrals should we make? I don't want to get ahead of that decision," Schiff explained. "But I can say that I think Judge Carter in California, who analyzed just one small piece of this, concluded that the former president and others were engaged or there was evidence they were engaged in a criminal conspiracy, evidence they were engaged in an effort to stop an official proceeding, the Joint Session."

"I think the evidence is there to make a referral, and we just have to decide whether that's the course we are going to take," he added.

Jack Smith is known to work quickly, and I hope that's the case. This feels like it's taking eleventy bazillion years to see justice make an appearance.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon