Adam Schiff says Dems would ‘win both’ House and Senate if election was today: Full interview

[0:00] Joining me now is Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California. Senator Schiff, [0:04] welcome back to Meet the Press. Great to be with you. Great to have you back. Well, [0:10] nine days to go. You're going to be out on the campaign trail, North Carolina, [0:15] Georgia, New Hampshire. Do you believe that Democrats can win back control of the House [0:21] and the Senate, Senator? I do believe we can flip both houses. And for the reason that the [0:29] main issue facing Americans is that their cost of living has gone up so dramatically [0:33] and a lot of it is due to the corruption that pervades this administration. An administration [0:38] that is looking out for itself, making money, hand over fist for the president, for his family [0:42] while leaving regular families to struggle. And that is the dominant issue. And I think [0:48] voters are going to turn out because their lives have not been made better by this president [0:52] and they're going to vote accordingly. We are ahead in every state we need to hold. [0:56] We are narrowly ahead in enough states we need to flip the Senate. Of course, we're all distrustful [1:03] of polling. So I say that with some circumspection. But I think if the election were held today, [1:08] we would win both houses. And the question is, can our candidates hold against this onslaught of [1:14] big, dark money pockets like Elon Musk, the MAGA fund and all the rest? We're being outspent. [1:21] Can we hold so far? We're holding. Well, Senator, let me ask you, because if Democrats do take back [1:28] control of Congress, I think a lot of voters want to know how you see your mandate. What do you believe [1:35] the top issue should be for Democrats? What's the top issue they should tackle? [1:43] Cost of living. We should do exactly what we are campaigning on, and that is focus singularly on how do we [1:48] bring the cost of life, the cost of food and medicine and rent and more. How do we bring it down? [1:55] How do we make it possible that if you're working hard in America, you can provide for yourself and [1:59] your family? That should be the focus of our positive legislative agenda, ending things like [2:05] the tariff wars, the Iran war and other things that are just driving costs higher. But also it should be [2:10] the focus of our oversight to look into the rampant corruption, because the cost of that corruption [2:16] is higher prices for the American people. If the administration is approving mergers that reduce [2:21] competition and raise costs for consumers, not because it's in the country's interest, but because [2:26] someone's making a buck, companies are paying the president's family or they're paying to have their [2:32] name on a ballroom, then the American people need to know. And what's more, it's going to be important [2:36] to find out to bring costs down. Let me ask you about this big news out of the Justice Department. [2:43] President Trump says he told DOJ to sue to block Alaska's Senate race certification if Republicans [2:51] lose. And just to explain to our viewers, the issue here is that the incumbent is named Senator Daniel [2:59] S. Sullivan. There is another candidate who is on the ballot named Daniel Sullivan. And I think we [3:06] have a look at the ballot right here. The argument is this could confuse voters. Does DOJ have a point [3:12] here? What's your reaction to the lawsuit, Senator? No, they don't have a point. And what's more, [3:19] they don't have standing to bring this kind of a suit. It's not the federal government's business [3:23] to run Alaskan elections. It's Alaska's business to do that. And they've already adjudicated this [3:28] question. And the Justice Department knows this, but it just shows how complicit they are now in the [3:34] Trump campaign to try to subvert the elections. Back in 2020, when the president was likewise trying to [3:40] challenge an election, he lost. He tried to enlist the support of the Justice Department. He told top [3:45] DOJ lawyers, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest of the Republican congressmen. And to [3:52] him, well, they refused. Bill Barr crossed a lot of ethical lines, but there was one he refused to [3:58] cross, which was trying to overturn a legitimate election. This time with Blanche, they're all in on [4:04] this disgraceful campaign. So this suit has no chance of succeeding. But the fact that Todd Blanche [4:11] and the Justice Department are willing to go along with it, they're willing to put their name on it, [4:16] is an indication of how far they will go after this election is over to try to challenge the results. [4:23] And the best remedy for the American people is make sure this isn't close anywhere. Turn out in [4:28] overwhelming numbers. Use every effort to intimidate as further reason to turn out and vote. [4:33] Well, you take me to my next question, Senator. Are you confident that Democrats will accept the [4:38] result of an election if they narrowly lose one of these big races? [4:45] Yes, we will abide by the elections. We will abide by the process. And we are going to fight [4:51] vigorously anyone who tries to interfere with that process. The states are capable of conducting their [4:57] own elections. That's what they're going to do. And we are more than fully prepared for whatever [5:02] the administration throws our way. And we've had to prepare because we saw the president go to the [5:07] length of inciting a violent attack on the Capitol the last time he lost. And he is desperately afraid [5:13] of losing because he has failed to bring prices down. He's failed the American people. His central [5:18] campaign pledge when he ran for president was to bring down costs on day one. And yet the cost of [5:24] everything has gone up. Farmers can't afford to plow their fields. They can't afford diesel. [5:28] American families can't afford their medicine. They can't afford food. And the president's actions [5:34] have just made things worse. And he knows it. His policies are deeply unpopular. He's deeply [5:39] unpopular. And his remedy is not to try to change policies, but to try to change the election by [5:46] interfering with it. Let me ask you about a big debate right now inside the Democratic Party. If [5:51] Democrats do win back control of Congress, it's about impeachment. You, of course, led the first [5:57] impeachment of President Trump back in 2019. As we sit here today, Senator, do you believe that [6:04] President Trump has committed impeachable offenses? I feel the same way I did early in the Russia [6:11] investigation, which is you don't prejudge the outcome before you even do the oversight. And so [6:17] what I'm suggesting that we do is, first of all, focus on exactly what we're campaigning on. And that is [6:23] our primary, our focus needs to be on bringing costs down. So our oversight should focus on that. It [6:30] should focus on the corruption that is driving costs up. If that corruption leads in the direction [6:37] of impeachment, it will lead wherever it leads. But we should put our overriding emphasis not on [6:44] impeachment, but on bringing the cost down for the American people on our affirmative agenda, [6:48] on our oversight agenda. Yes, our investigative agenda, but it should be with an eye to improving [6:54] the quality of life for the American people. Well, some of your Democratic colleagues, Senator [6:58] Schatz, Duckworth, have said that impeaching President Trump for a third time would be a [7:04] mistake. It would backfire. Do you share those concerns? Should you take impeachment off the table? [7:13] I share the concern that we move away from any focus on the cost of living. But I also reserve the [7:18] judgment to say, hey, when we investigated this corruption, this is where it has led us. [7:23] But we need to focus on exactly what is concerning the American people, and that's their ability to [7:29] provide for their family. And yes, there are things outside of that prism that we'll need looking into. [7:34] We're going to need to look into, for example, Starlink and Elon Musk's decision or the president's [7:40] decision to throttle it down and cripple Ukraine's defense. There are going to be other things that are not [7:45] purely within the lens of cost of living that need to be looked into. But our primary focus has to be [7:50] the needs of the American people. Senator, quickly, you raised Starlink. And just to explain this idea [7:56] that Starlink and Starshield were slowed down in Ukraine, you have called for a Senate investigation [8:02] into Elon Musk. Would you call anyone from the administration to testify on this matter? [8:08] Should Democrats win back control of Senate? [8:11] Absolutely. The defense secretary, Higgs, that should be brought in. Anyone who has knowledge [8:18] of what happened, you've got the president saying one thing. You've got Elon Musk saying another thing. [8:23] You have them both saying different things at different times. Somebody is lying here. Maybe [8:27] they're all lying in different ways. But we need to find out. Certainly the world's richest person [8:32] shouldn't be controlling our national security interests. That is a spectacular threat to our national [8:39] security. If it is true, we should find out. Something isn't adding up here. I saw Elon Musk [8:46] today tweet that they're just preventing Ukraine from violating their policies. Something changed [8:52] within the last week. What was it that changed? Why did it change? What impact is it having on [8:58] Ukraine's ability to defend itself? Is this in our national security interests? These are the questions [9:03] we should ask, which, frankly, Republicans have been unwilling to ask. [9:06] All right. Senator Adam Schiff, thank you so very much for joining us today. We really appreciate it.