On Saturday, during a speech before the California Democratic Convention in Long Beach, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff ripped into President Donald Trump, reports The New York Post .
Greeted with applause and cheers, Schiff began his speech by arguing that American democracy is “at risk” because of the president.
“You will forgive me if I’m a bit exhausted, it’s been an eventful week,” he said, referring to public testimonies in the ongoing impeachment probe into Trump.
“The greatest threat to the life and the health of our democracy comes from within,” the California Democrat continued, arguing that Trump has more respect for strongmen and dictators than for the Constitution.
“There is nothing more dangerous than a president who believes he is above the law,” Schiff, who is in charge of the impeachment probe, added.
The intelligence committee chairman then ripped into Trump, calling him a “charlatan,” and promising that Democrats will beat him in 2020.
“We will send that charlatan in the White House back to the golden throne he came from.”
“And you know why?” he continued, “Because we vote.”
The Democratic Party will build another blue wave, Schiff vowed, and win the 2020 election.
The top Democrat also praised the activists present at the event, saying that their vote will “save” the United States.
“Your activism is the engine of the Democratic Party,” the Congressman told the crowd.
Schiff, whose committee is leading the Congressional hearings, has become one of the central figures in the House Democrats’ impeachment case against Trump.
This has turned him into one of Republicans’ main targets. Both the president and Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives have long argued that Schiff is looking to remove Trump from office by launching questionable investigations.
Ambassador Yovanovitch’s removal from Ukraine is the beginning of the story,
A story about the President’s efforts to coerce, condition, or bribe Ukraine for political investigations.
If you have any doubt that these are the facts, do what Trump says:
Read the transcript. pic.twitter.com/DndEcXNrFj
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) November 15, 2019
Republican lawmakers have also taken concrete action to target Schiff, requesting that he testifies behind closed doors. According to Republicans, either Schiff or a member of his staff held meetings with the anonymous individual who blew the whistle on Trump’s allegedly inappropriate dealings with the Ukrainian government.
Schiff rebuked these attempts by vowing that the impeachment probe will not abet “sham” investigations into Democrats.
According to the whistleblower, Trump pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate his political opponents, including former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Trump, the whistleblower claims, withheld military aid, pressuring Ukrainian authorities to launch investigations into Biden, in what is being described as an effort to harm the former vice president’s White House bid.
Trump has categorically denied the allegations, claiming to have done nothing wrong during his contacts with Ukraine.