House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) claimed Friday evening that 50,000 Americans died because the Senate failed to remove President Donald Trump from office during the impeachment trial in February.
Schiff’s argument runs counter to those who have argued that the impeachment trial was a pointless distraction that prevented Congress from acting to help stop the pandemic. A timeline of events reveals that President Trump took the first actions against the pandemic despite the trial, including forming the coronavirus task force, and banning travel with China.
Schiff told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes:
There is one thing that, really, I have to say haunts me from the trial and it was before that snippet you showed where we knew we had to answer the question to the senators, okay, essentially, house managers, you’ve proved him guilty [sic] , does he really need to be removed after all? we have an election in nine months. how much damage could he really do? and we posed that question to the Senate and we answered it by saying that he could do an awful lot of damage but frankly, chris, I don’t think we had any idea how much damage he would go on to do in the months ahead. There are 50,000 Americans now who are dead, in significant part because of his incompetence, because of his inability to think beyond himself and put the country first. I don’t think we would have ever anticipated that his brand of narcissism and his brand of incompetence would be so fatal to the American people.
Former top Oregon GOP official secures nomination for governor as Republicans target blue-state pickup
Trump-backed senator cruises to primary win, setting up potential 4th term
Bob Brooks wins Pennsylvania’s 7th District primary to take on Ryan Mackenzie in general election
Three stabbed at crowded Rhode Island beach as hundreds of teens pack area, police say
Bob Harvie wins Pennsylvania’s 1st District primary to set showdown with Brian Fitzpatrick
Trump ally Tommy Tuberville cruises to Alabama GOP governor nomination
Kentucky physician advances to general election after receiving glowing Trump endorsement: ‘True friend’
Pentagon cuts Brigade Combat Teams in Europe as Trump pressures NATO on spending
Stelson-Perry rematch set in Pennsylvania’s 10th District
Gallup Poll: Americans Would Rather Live Near a Nuclear Power Plant Than an AI Data Center
Breaking: Thomas Massie Loses to Trump-Backed Ed Gallrein in Hotly Contested Primary
Tragic: College Football Player Dead at 22, Coach Says ‘He Will Be Sincerely Missed’
Ketanji Brown Jackson Publicly Trashes All 8 of Her Fellow Supreme Court Justices
Trump admin readies Raul Castro indictment as fatal shootdown case resurfaces: sources
Oklahoma Newspaper Pulls Jewish Writer’s Op-Ed Praising OKC Thunder and Israel for Thriving Against Bigger Rivals
.@RepAdamSchiff suggests “50,000 Americans” are dead because Trump wasn’t impeached
Republicans said “How much damage could he really do? … I don’t think we had any idea how much damage he would go on to do … There are 50,000 Americans now who are dead” pic.twitter.com/QGH941MSlk
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 25, 2020
The House — after a four-week delay — transferred the articles of impeachment to the Senate on Jan. 15, the day the first coronavirus patient arrived in the U.S. from Wuhan, China. Congress did nothing about the pandemic during the trial. Meanwhile, the president formed the coronavirus task force the week of Jan. 27 and imposed the travel ban on Jan. 31.
The Democrat-controlled House held its first hearing on coronavirus on Feb. 5 — the day Trump was acquitted in the Senate.
Schiff, who said nothing about coronavirus in its early days, is now pushing for legislation to create a “9/11 commission” for evaluating the president’s response to the pandemic. Opponents counter that he is trying to exploit the issue for the election.
Story cited here.
