California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff is already trying to use the wildfires in his state to levy attacks on President-Elect Donald Trump.
During an interview on ABC News, Schiff spoke with host Jon Karl about the latest details on the efforts to fight the Los Angeles wildfires, their response from the Biden White House, and his supposed concern about Trump not providing aid to California when he takes office in a week.
Karl asked Schiff: “We’re running out of time and I have to let you go, but very quickly, how important is it for incoming president Donald Trump and governor Gavin Newsom to be able to work on this? There’s been a lot of really heated rhetoric between those two. Of course, especially coming from President-Elect Trump. How important is it for them to work together on this?”
“It’s going to be really important for the incoming president to work with all of us in California to make sure that we get the resources we need to put out these flames. If there are any still burning when he takes office, to get the relief to get back on our feet, and I’ll tell you this, Jonathan, I have been in Congress a long time approving aid after disasters. I never once even considered, is this hurricane hitting a red state or a blue state? What about this flood? What about this fire? It has never mattered to me,” Schiff responded.
“We’re all in this together. This is the United States of America. We need the incoming president to view it that way. We’re ready to work with the president to make sure that we have no — no gap, no air between us when it comes to making sure that we help victims get back on their feet,” Schiff added.
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One week ago, Schiff was signing a different tune.
Speaking with NBC San Diego, Schiff said it was time to “reach across the aisle” and work with Republicans as Trump is headed back to the White House.
“There are times I’m going to have to stand up to the president and push back,” Schiff said. “Californians are going to expect that of me. I’m going to have to try to do both at the same time. I’m sure that will prove to be challenging,” Schiff said.
“Because housing is more and more scarce, and we have a population that’s growing, people are left homeless, or people can’t afford to buy a home, or people can’t afford their rent anymore. And there are things that we can do about this, and a lot of them are bipartisan,” Schiff said.
“On healthcare, on the economy, on bringing prices down, there’s ample room to get these things done if we’re looking for solutions rather than just fighting each other,” Schiff added.
Schiff’s newfound motivation to reach across the aisle comes after he lashed out at Trump after he won November’s presidential election.
In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” host Jake Tapper questioned Schiff regarding Trump’s recent cabinet picks.
“You were censured in the House last year for, in their view, holding positions of power during the Trump presidency as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and, according to them, ‘abusing this trust by saying there was evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia,’” Tapper said.
“And I wonder if you are feeling at all, introspective at all, about that was, according to the Mueller report and according to your Republican colleagues, an overstatement? And I wonder if you think, in any way, you helped set the table for these disruptors?” Tapper asked.
“First of all, it wasn’t an overstatement,” Schiff answered. “There is evidence of collusion. The Trump campaign manager was meeting with Russian intelligence and giving them internal polling data, just to give you one example. And the Mueller report sets all this out.”
“It does say, ‘The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,’ which doesn’t mean that he didn’t, that there weren’t meetings, but they didn’t find evidence of it,” Tapper followed up.
Schiff said, “Mueller says that, too. He says, ‘The fact that we didn’t find proof beyond a reasonable doubt doesn’t mean there wasn’t evidence of conspiracy or coordination.’”
The House of Representatives censured Schiff in 2023 in a party-line vote for his repeated allegations that Trump’s 2016 campaign conspired with Russia to gain the presidency.
Earlier that year, he was also dismissed from the House Intelligence Committee.
