Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes to recap his forcing a bipartisan vote in the U.S. Senate to block further strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea without congressional authorization, emphasizing the lack of authority and legal rationale to permit the targeting of these groups without approval from Congress.
Schiff also discussed revelations about the president’s pressure campaign on the Department of Justice, and his weaponization of the department to target political enemies like James Comey.
View the full interview here.
Key Excerpts:
On the bipartisan vote to block further strikes in the Caribbean without congressional authorization, and the lack of information being shared with Congress:
[…] On the vote, it was actually bipartisan. We did have two Republican members vote with us in support of the War Powers resolution, but nevertheless, it failed by a narrow margin. In terms of what the administration has shared, certainly the senators at large have not been briefed, and you would think if we were engaged in military hostilities as we are against these ships in the Caribbean, that there would be an all hands briefing explaining exactly why we’re taking these extraordinary and lethal measures. That hasn’t happened.
On Trump’s lack of legal rationale or authority for the continued military strikes against alleged cartel activity in the Caribbean:
[…] The most I can make of the legal rationale by the administration is the president has put a bunch of groups on a list, and he believes he has the authority to blow up anybody on that list without Congress’ authorization.
That is completely inconsistent with the Constitution, and it has no limiting principle. If a president in secret can put names on a list and kill them, then there is no war power still retained by Congress, and there is no check on an executive who may drag us into another war.
[…] If you look at where this started, it started with blowing up ships, you then have the president say, “Well, we may go to land targets now in Venezuela or elsewhere,” and with statements like the Attorney General’s – now you begin to wonder: do they believe that they have the authority by putting some groups on a list? Even domestic groups, to use lethal force against them, with no trial, no due process, no nothing. And you know the reality is, we can’t rule that out. We can’t rule that out.
On Trump’s weaponization of the Department of Justice to achieve retribution against his political enemies in the wake of James Comey’s arraignment:
[…] In terms of the arraignment of James Comey – this follows, as you know, the firing of the U.S. attorney who refused to move forward, the firing of career prosecutors who thought this case lacked evidence, the replacement of the U.S. attorney by an insurance lawyer who is also a personal lawyer for the president. This whole process stinks of vindictive prosecution. This case, from all we can see, should never have been brought, and this is merely the president, to a degree we have never seen, abusing the awesome power of the Justice Department to try to jail his opponents.
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