众议院情报委员会主席亚当·希夫反对会见新闻界主持人查克·托德声称弹劾调查似乎让唐纳德·特朗普总统和他所谓的同谋者逍遥法外。
希夫指责美国全国广播公司新闻节目主持人周日称，众议院民主党人领导的弹劾调查“停止”，尽管有压倒性证据和线索表明特朗普政府官员在乌克兰有罪补偿物指控。这位加州民主党人表示，他不会“排除”举行更多公开听证会的可能性，并解释了为什么他和其他众议院情报委员会成员没有要求乌克兰告密者作证，尽管此前曾提出过这样的要求。
希夫还指出，律师鲁迪·朱利安尼的助手和乌克兰的常客列夫·帕纳斯已经被传唤，众议院希望在要求他作证之前审查文件。
“这当然不是为了炫耀，但我们已经积累了压倒性的证据，表明总统再次寻求外国对选举的干涉，”希夫说，此前听起来有点怀疑的托德向他提出了一个问题，“你有证据表明下周将进行更多的调查吗？”
希夫继续说:“[·特朗普以官方行为为条件，这是乌克兰迫切希望的白宫会议，以及4亿美元的两党纳税人资金来进行这些他认为有助于他连任的政治调查。”
据NPR报道，尽管特朗普、朱利安尼和国务卿麦克·庞贝面临如此多的“公开线索”，但托德继续质疑希夫所说的调查进展缓慢。美国全国广播公司新闻制作人闪现了一个图表，列出了大约六条“弹劾的公开线索”，而多疑的托德似乎想要更多的信息。
“所以有更多的文件，有更多的证据，我的意思是，你有所有这些公开的线索，你停下来似乎很奇怪，”托德再次追问。
“重要的是要知道我们不会停下来...我们认为这是当务之急，我们还有一场总统威胁要进行更多外国干涉的选举。与此同时，我们还想获得其他证人和文件，但我们不愿意在法庭上浪费数月的时间，特朗普政府非常希望我们这样做，”希夫回答。
“嗯，你现在有个人了，”托德反驳道，提到了列夫·帕纳斯。
希夫回答说:“我们已经传唤了文件，正在与纽约南区进行讨论，我们已经传唤了庞贝和其他人。”。
在“弹劾调查公开线索”中会见新闻界列出的项目是:“约翰·博尔顿；迈克·庞贝&国务院文件；米克·马尔瓦尼，里克·佩里能源交易；鲁迪·朱利安尼的SDNY调查；乌克兰寡头Dmytro Firtash和德文·努恩斯关于拜登的会议。”
托德和希夫随后求助于没有作证的告密者，调查背后的推理改变了让那个人出庭的想法。希夫辩称，乌克兰告密者的人身安全受到特朗普及其同伙的威胁。
“在两件事发生之前，我们对让告密者作证非常感兴趣。第一，我们能够用掌握第一手信息的证人证明举报者投诉中的一切。其次，总统和他的盟友实际上把告密者的生命置于危险之中，”希夫解释说。
“总统说告密者和其他人应该被当作间谍对待，我们应该使用我们过去对叛徒和间谍使用的死刑，”他继续说道。“我们不再需要告密者的二手信息。它只会试图危及这个人，满足总统报复的愿望，而这并不是一个充分的理由让告密者进来。”
亚当·希夫反驳了美国全国广播公司新闻节目主持人的说法，弹劾调查似乎让特朗普总统和他所谓的同谋逃脱了责任。
NBC'S CHUCK TODD DEMANDS ADAM SCHIFF EXPLAIN WHY IMPEACHMENT IS STALLING
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff pushed back against Meet the Presshost Chuck Todd's claim the impeachment inquiry appears to be letting President Donald Trump and his alleged co-conspirators off the hook.
Schiff rebuked the NBC News host's suggestion Sunday that "it seems odd" the House Democrat-led impeachment investigation is "stopping," despite overwhelming evidence and leads pointing to the guilt of Trump administration officials in the Ukraine quid pro quo allegations. The California Democrat said he won't "foreclose the possibility" of more public hearings and explained why he and other House Intelligence committee members didn't ask for the Ukraine whistleblower to testify, despite previously making such requests.
Schiff also noted that attorney Rudy Giuliani associate and frequent Ukraine visitor Lev Parnas has been subpoenaed and the House wants to review documents before asking him to testify.
"It's certainly not for show, but we've already accumulated overwhelmingly evidence that the president once again sought foreign interference in an election," Schiff said, after a skeptical-sounding Todd pressed him with the question, "Do you have some evidence that more investigation is going to take place next week?"
Schiff continued: "[Trump] conditioned official acts, a White House meeting that Ukraine desperately wanted, as well as $400 million of bipartisan taxpayer funding to get these political investigations that he thought would help his reelection."
Todd continued to challenge Schiff on what he characterized as a slowing investigation despite so many "open leads," which are damning to Trump, Giuliani and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, NPR reported. The NBC News producers flashed up a graphic that laid out about a half-dozen "open leads in impeachment," which the incredulous Todd appeared to be in want of more information.
"So there's more documents, there's more evidence, I mean, you have all these open leads, it just seems odd that you're stopping," Todd again pressed.
"it's important to know we're not stopping...We view this as urgent, we have another election where the president is threatening more foreign interference. At the same time, there are still other witnesses and documents we would like to obtain, but we're not willing to go the months and months of rope-a-dope in the courts, which the Trump administration would more than love for us to do," Schiff replied.
"Well you have somebody right now," Todd shot back, referencing Lev Parnas.
"We've already subpoenaed documents and are in discussion with the Southern District of New York and we've subpoenaed Pompeo and others," Schiff replied.
Among the "open leads in impeachment inquiry" the Meet the Press program listed were: "John Bolton; Mike Pompeo & State Department documents; Mick Mulvaney, Rick Perry energy deal; SDNY probe of Rudy Giuliani; Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash; and Devin Nunes meeting on Biden."
Todd and Schiff then turned to the whistleblower not testifying and the reasoning behind the inquiry changing its mind on having that person appear before the hearings. Schiff argued that the personal safety of the Ukraine whistleblower was threatened by Trump and his associates.
"We had a deep interest in having the whistleblower testify until two things happened. Number one, we were able to prove everything in the whistleblower complaint with witnesses who had first-hand information. And second, the president and his allies effectively put that whistleblower's life in danger," Schiff explained.
"The president said the whistleblower and others should be treated as a spy and we ought to use the penalty we used to use for traitors and spies that is the death penalty," he continued. "We don't need the whistleblower's second-hand information anymore. It would only seek to endanger this person and gratify the president's desire for retribution, and that is not a good enough reason to bring in the whistleblower."
Adam Schiff pushed back against the NBC News host's claim the impeachment inquiry appears to be letting President Trump and his alleged co-conspirators off the hook.
