Jan 23, 2020
Schiff: Putin should not be "thanking God" for Trump
Lead House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) lamented during Thursday's portion of the Senate impeachment trial that Russian President Vladimir Putin should not be "thanking God" for President Trump.
"But nothing struck me more from [Rep. Sylvia Garcia]'s presentation than that quote from Vladimir Putin from November of this past year, so just a couple months ago. 'Thank God,' Putin said, 'Thank God nobody is accusing us anymore of interfering in U.S. elections. Now they're accusing Ukraine. Thank God,' Putin says.
Well, you've got to give Donald Trump credit for this. He has made a religious man out of Vladimir Putin, but I don't think — I don't think we really want Vladimir Putin, our adversary, to be thanking God for the president of the United States, because they don't wish us well. "
The big picture: Schiff is on his second day of presenting Democrats' case against Trump.
- He opened Democrats' arguments on Wednesday by presenting a detailed timeline of actions by Trump and other administration officials against Ukraine. He's continued that strategy today — giving a prosecutorial breakdown of the abuse of power case against the president.
- Schiff has also shut down calls for a potential witness swap in the trial. The pitch would have allowed members of the Biden family to testify in exchange for testimony from key Trump administration officials.
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