在民主党人对唐纳德·特朗普总统弹劾听证会可能性的持续调查和讨论中，加州众议员亚当·希夫对推进可能罢免总统的进程表示谨慎。
出现在全国广播公司的节目中会见新闻界周日，希夫表示，众议院在弹劾问题上有很大的利害关系，即如果民主党采取了行动，但没有成功，总统在参议院被宣告无罪，这可能会发出一个信息，特朗普的行为——更准确地说，可能是妨碍司法公正的指控——不是可弹劾的罪行。
“我最担心的陪审团，而不是参议院，因为我认为这是一个注定的结论，是美国人民。我们能向美国人民证明这一点吗？希夫说:“在我们走上这条道路之前，我想确保这是真的，因为这将占用一年的时间。”会见新闻界主持人查克·托德
在这段时间里，托德从纽约杂志无任所作家安德鲁·苏利文批评众议院议长南希·佩洛西继续抵制民主党一些人要求开始弹劾程序的呼吁。
此外，众议院议长南希·佩洛西开创了一个非同寻常的先例:精心收集的明确证据表明，总统犯下了她所说的“违反宪法的罪行”，但这并不构成弹劾的充分理由，即使这些罪行是为了掩盖与外国势力的联盟。如果需要更多，弹劾权实际上已经无效，”沙利文写道。
托德读完这段引文后补充道，“这就引出了一个论点——不管你认为参议院会发生什么，你不这样做是在树立一个坏的先例...如果你认为这些都是可以弹劾的罪行，那么如果你不这样做，你就开了一个坏先例。”
希夫回答说:“这是我们受到的最强烈的谴责，这一论点很有分量。”。“如果我们不使用它，它会给下一代传递什么信息？我同样担心查克会把弹劾案送上法庭，输掉这个案子，让总统无罪开释，并裁定这种行为是不可弹劾的。所以这里没有简单的答案。”
托德后来问希夫，他是否觉得弹劾有时间限制。
“从宪法意义上来说，拖延司法就是拒绝司法，”希夫回答说。“他们正在竭尽全力阻挠国会的调查，阻挠司法公正。因此，这可能会在秋季达到这样一个阶段，我们决定，“看，他阻挠国会履行其合法的宪法职责，违反了宪法的另一项条款。”
希夫补充说，在这种情况下，这不是犯罪，而是轻罪，根据开国元勋的说法，这不是较轻的犯罪。
他说:“这就是为什么我说总统正在尽他所能推动我们进行弹劾，因为如果我们不能及时从法院得到足够的答案，这本身就是一种可弹劾的罪行。”。
希夫发表评论的几天前，佩洛西向记者坚称，她并没有试图“用尽时间”弹劾特朗普，而是在等待所有信息收集完毕，一旦信息收集完毕，“将会及时做出决定”
在接下来的片段中，托德问国会议员众议院目前在与特朗普有关的调查中处于什么位置，以及这是否构成弹劾程序的开始:“我们现在所处的位置最准确地说是司法程序的初步阶段，该程序是一个潜在的弹劾程序。”
希夫说，“在他看来”，为了起诉和弹劾特朗普，国会需要站在“他们可以立案”的位置上
“参议院共和党对总统人格的崇拜是没有道理的，但我们至少应该能够向美国人民证明这一点。我想看看证据，所以我有信心在我们说准备起诉美国总统之前，我们能做到这一点，”他说。
国会议员亚当·希夫在2019年5月30日加利福尼亚州北好莱坞伊尔马斯家庭校园洛杉矶家庭住宅伊尔马斯家庭校园盛大开幕仪式上讲话。
TRUMP 'DOING EVERYTHING THAT HE CAN TO PUSH US INTO AN IMPEACHMENT,' SAYS SCHIFF
Amid continued investigations and discussions from Democrats about the possibility of impeachment hearings for President Donald Trump, California Congressman Adam Schiff expressed caution on moving forward with the process for possibly removing the president.
Appearing on NBC's Meet The Press Sunday, Schiff said there was a lot a stake for the House of Representatives regarding impeachment, namely that if Democrats made the move and were unsuccessful and the president were acquitted in the Senate, that it might send a message that Trump's conduct — more precisely, potential charges of obstruction of justice — was not an impeachable offense.
"The jury I'm most worried about, not the Senate because I think that's a preordained conclusion, is the American people. Can we make the case to the American people? I want to make sure that's true before we go down that path because it's going to occupy a year of the nation's time," Schiff told Meet the Press host Chuck Todd
During the segment, Todd read a portion of a column from New York Magazine writer-at-large Andrew Sullivan where he criticized Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for continuing to resist calls by some in the Democratic party to begin impeachment proceedings.
"Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, moreover, has set an extraordinary precedent: that clear evidence, meticulously collected, that a president has committed what she calls "crimes against the Constitution" does not constitute sufficient grounds for impeachment, even when those crimes were designed to cover up an alliance with a foreign power. If more than that is needed, the impeachment power has effectively been nullified," Sullivan wrote.
After reading the quote, Todd added, "this gets to the argument — regardless of what you think happens in the Senate, that you are setting a bad precedent by not... If you believe these are impeachable offenses then you are setting a bad precedent if you don't do it."
"There is great weight to the argument that this is the strongest form of censure that we have," Schiff replied. "If we don't use it, what message does that send to the next generation? I worry equally Chuck about taking impeachment case to trial, losing that case, having the president acquitted and having an adjudication that this conduct is not impeachable. So there's not a simple answer here."
Todd later asked Schiff if he felt there was a time limit on impeachment.
"In a Constitutional sense, justice delayed is justice denied," Schiff replied. "They are doing everything they can to obstruct the congressional investigation, having obstructed justice. So it may get to a point in the fall where we decide, 'Look he is violating a different provision of the Constitution' by obstructing Congress in its lawful and Constitutional duty."
Schiff added that in that situation it wouldn't be a crime but a misdemeanor, which isn't a lesser crime according to the Founding Fathers.
"This is why I say the president is doing everything he can to push us into an impeachment because if we can't get adequate answers from the court in time, that in of itself will be an impeachable offense," he said.
Schiff comments come days after Pelosi insisted to reporters that she was not trying to "run out the clock" for impeaching Trump, but that she was waiting until all information had been gathered and once that happened a "decision will be made in a timely fashion."
Later in the segment, Todd asked the congressman where the House currently stands in the investigations connected to Trump and if it constitutes the beginning of impeachment proceedings: "Where we are now is most accurately described as preliminary to a judicial proceeding, that proceeding being a potential impeachment."
Schiff said "in his mind" in order to indict and impeach Trump, Congress needs to be at the point where "they can make the case."
"There's no making the case to the cult of the president's personality that is the Senate GOP, but we should at least be able to make the case to the American people. And I'd like to see the evidence so I'm confident that we can do that before we say we're ready to charge the president of the United States," he said.
Congressman Adam Schiff speaks at the grand opening of the Irmas Family Campus at LA Family Housing at The Irmas Family Campus on May 30, 2019 in North Hollywood, California.
