Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday called for Representative Adam Schiff to step down from the House Intelligence Committee, citing Schiff’s repeated claims that the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
The California Democrat “owes the American public an apology,” McCarthy said. “Schiff has met the standard that he has imposed on other members of Congress of when they should step back from their positions. He has exceeded that standard, and there is no question he should step down from the Intel chairmanship.”
As early as March 2017, two months before Special Counsel Robert Mueller was tapped to probe the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, Schiff claimed there was “more than circumstantial evidence” to suggest collusion with Russia but said he could not “go into the particulars.”
Even on Sunday, Schiff told ABC that there is “significant evidence of collusion” despite the special counsel’s conclusion that the Trump campaign did not conspire with Russia.
“The Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” reads the letter Attorney General William Barr sent to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees summarizing the special counsel’s findings.
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway demanded Monday that Schiff resign immediately from Congress altogether.
“He has been on every TV show 50 times a day for practically the last two years promising Americans that the president would be impeached or indicted,” Conway said.
Along with many of his fellow Democrats, Schiff said he wanted to see the evidence Mueller used to reach his conclusion.
“Mueller did not find sufficient evidence to establish conspiracy, notwithstanding Russian offers to help Trump’s campaign, their acceptance, and a litany of concealed interactions with Russia,” read a statement from Schiff. “I trust Mueller’s prosecutorial judgment, but the country must see the evidence.”