WASHINGTON — House Democrats warned the Trump administration that any moves to block witnesses would be taken as obstruction of justice and used in their impeachment proceedings.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) fired back at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Trump, warning them not to try to block witnesses from testifying to Congress.
“If they are going to prevent witnesses from coming forward from testifying… that will create an adverse inference that those allegations are in fact correct,” Schiff warned during a press conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Wednesday morning.
Schiff said any attempts to “stonewall” Congress “will be considered further evidence of obstruction of justice.”
The comments come after Pompeo accused Schiff of trying to “bully” diplomats as he promised to deny the House access to witnesses they want to testify. But a current and former State Department official have subsequently agreed to testify, defying Pompeo: The State Department’s semi-independent inspector general has asked to come to Congress on Wednesday, and the former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine plans to come as well.
Schiff also slammed Trump for seeking to find out who the whistleblower was who revealed Trump’s conversation with Ukraine’s president.
“This is a blatant effort to intimidate witnesses. It’s an incitement to violence,” he warned.
Cover: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, D-CA, speak during a press conference in the House Studio of the US Capitol in Washington, DC on October 2, 2019. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP)
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