Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
- Schiff during a recent Daily Beast interview blasted “the MTGs” who continue to push Trump’s debunked election claims.
- “They’re not stupid,” the California Democrat said. “They know exactly what they’re doing.”
- Schiff said that Republicans were still consumed with fear over possible party primary challenges.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the high-profile chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said during a recent interview that controversial GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and like-minded lawmakers who support former President Donald Trump’s debunked election theories aren’t playing political games and are “legitimately nuts.”
During an episode of “The New Abnormal” featuring editor-at-large Molly Jong-Fast, Schiff reflected on the state of the nation, expressing that “we’re at a very tenuous point in the history of our democracy” and blasting “people running around the country still pushing the Big Lie” as they seek to remove officials across the country from administering elections independently.
“Are they pretending to be crazy or are they genuinely crazy?” Jong-Fast asked Schiff.
“I think the MTGs are legitimately nuts, but most of the Republican conference that’s pushing the Big Lie understands it’s a big lie,” he said. “They’re not stupid. They know exactly what they’re doing. And then it is just craven capitulation to Donald Trump because they fear a primary, because they want to advance within the party.”
“For every one Liz Cheney, there are at least five willing to say, ‘If you’re not willing to push the Big Lie, I volunteer. You know, nothing’s more important to me than my ambition. And if it means tearing down one of the pillars of our democracy … then sign me up.’ Sadly, that’s where most of the Republicans are right now,” he added.
Cheney, a conservative Republican representing Wyoming, was removed from House GOP leadership earlier this year after repeatedly calling out Trump over his unsubstantiated election claims, which she said only served to “undermine democracy.”
Schiff is a member of the Jan. 6 select committee that is tasked with investigating the insurrection fueled by pro-Trump rioters who wanted to stop the certification of now-President Joe Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College win.
The Democratic lawmaker also blasted former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon for defying a subpoena from the panel, expressing that the GOP has “become a cult.”
Earlier this month, Bannon was held in criminal contempt of Congress for flouting the subpoena.
“A man runs for president on a platform of building a wall that he says Mexico’s going to pay for,” he said. “It’s an absurd idea, to begin with. He becomes president. Of course, he doesn’t build a wall because Mexico is not going to pay for him. And then his buddies, including Mr. Bannon, raise money from his own supporters to purportedly build a wall, steal it. And then he pardons them for stealing from his own people.”
“It’s the most consummate den of thieves and grifters imaginable,” he added.
Powered by WPeMatico
