View the full interview HERE.
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki to break down Emil Bove’s nomination hearing for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, where he continuously denied reports that he had advised lawyers to ignore court orders. He questioned Bove about his role in the dismissal of the corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams. Schiff also discussed what he expects to hear from the upcoming classified Senate briefing on Israel and Iran.
Key Excerpts:
On Emil Bove’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee:
[…] There were a number of things that stuck out in that exchange, which went on for some time. He reiterated he just didn’t remember whether he had suggested that they should ignore court orders and say, “f– you” to the court. I was a prosecutor more than 30 years ago, and even though it’s been a long time, I would remember if I suggested saying “f– you” to the court and ignoring a court order. That’s simply not credible. And so many of the prosecutors that felt they had to resign because what they were being asked to do by Emil Bove was so immoral, so violative of the rules of the Justice Department, the policies, and the ethics of the department. And those prosecutors have so much more credibility than Emil Bove.
But I was also struck in questioning him about the dismissal of the corruption case against the mayor of New York because he was the architect. He was the one that was pushing for that. His rationale that he did this because the charges against Adams would interfere with the performance of his job. That is the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard for dismissing a corruption case against an elected official. I served in the public corruption section. I prosecuted corrupt people, and you would never suggest that politicians get a pass because if you were to try them or convict them, it would interfere in their job. And I don’t even know how you say that with a straight face, but he tried today.
On the Trump administration’s campaign of intimidation:
[…] I think there’s concern in the administration that the same thing that happened to Ed Martin may happen to Emil Bove. That is, there’s a lot of really bad stuff in his background, and the more it comes out, the more Republicans feel the pressure not to approve such an unqualified person. And it’s for that reason, we had something very unusual during this confirmation hearing today, and that is the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, both Bondi and Blanche sat there for hours, and they weren’t there to be illuminated. They weren’t there to show their moral support for Bove. They were there to keep an eye on the Republicans, to let the Republicans on the committee know “We are watching you. We do not want a repetition of that flare up of conscience that we saw when it came to Ed Martin. You will vote as you’re told.”
And so I didn’t hear anyone on the Republican side of the aisle question him about any of these things, which is really astounding, because there were so many things to ask him about. Not just the case involving the mayor of New York, not just this whistleblower with the new allegations against him, but also his pressuring one prosecutor to open a criminal case or say there was a criminal case where there was none, forcing her to resign. No, not even a murmur, not even a question, not even a hint of concern about any of this from any of the Republican Senators that I heard.
On the upcoming classified intelligence briefing:
[…] You can’t count on Ratcliffe to tell us the truth. He has demonstrated his willingness to sow the political line. You certainly can’t count on Gabbard, who’s not going to be there. You definitely can’t count on Hegseth. I’m hoping they have some professionals there from the intelligence community, from the Defense Department, that we can actually rely upon and have confidence in what they tell us.
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