“Yes, we’ll show evidence of the President’s involvement in this scheme. We’ll also again show evidence about what his own lawyers came to think about this scheme,” the California Democrat told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.” “And we’ll show courageous state officials who stood up and said they wouldn’t go along with this plan to either call legislators back into session or decertify the results for Joe Biden.”
When asked by Bash specifically if the committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol had evidence Trump directed the fake electors scheme, Schiff responded, “I don’t want to get ahead of our hearing.”
“We’ll show during the hearing what the President’s role was in trying to get states to name alternate slates of electors, how that scheme depended initially on hopes that the legislators would reconvene and bless it,” he said, adding, “We will show you what we know about his role in this.”
Schiff also said the committee still has “several key people we have not interviewed we would like to” and could still possibly subpoena former Vice President Mike Pence as part of its investigation.
“(He’s) certainly a possibility,” Schiff said. “We’re not excluding anyone or anything at this point.”
Also Sunday, another House January 6 panelist said there needed to be “accountability” for the wrongdoing displayed in evidence and testimony before the select committee, but stopped short of calling on the Department of Justice to charge Trump.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “accountability can mean two things. One is individual criminal accountability that people pay for their particular crimes, as more than 800 people have already been prosecuted for everything from assaulting a federal officer to interfering with a federal proceeding to seditious conspiracy.”
“But accountability also means collective accountability, and that’s the real project,” he continued. “Telling the truth to the people so we can make decisions about how to fortify democratic institutions going forward.”
Meanwhile, when asked by Bash about the January 6 committee’s decision not to turn over documents related to its investigation to the DOJ, Schiff defended the panel’s stance, saying, “I don’t think Congress has ever done that.”
“I’ve been participating now in several investigations where there have been parallel investigations done by the Justice Department. Congress never says, ‘Hey, Justice Department, other branch of government, just come and go through our files.’ We also don’t say, ‘Hey, we want to go over and just rifle through your files,'” he said.
Schiff said the committee will work with the DOJ and “want them to be successful in bringing people to justice, but I can’t go into the private conversations.”
When pressed by Bash on why the committee hasn’t called on witnesses who might challenge the panel, Schiff defended the committee’s choice of witnesses.
“We are interviewing, frankly, anyone that has relevant evidence,” he said. “We’re putting that relevant evidence before the public, and we’re doing it in a way that is the most cohesive and that we can get across the salient points to the public.”
“We want to know what she knows, what her involvement was in this plot to overturn the election,” Schiff said. “She has said that she is willing to come in and testify voluntarily. We’re glad to hear that.”
Schiff on Sunday told CNN that Justice Thomas should have “nothing to do” with cases related to the insurrection.
“I think that at a minimum, it suggests — and I think we know enough to say this already — that Justice Thomas, to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, should have nothing to do with any cases relating to January 6, particularly … regarding our investigation,” he said.
CNN’s Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.
