we're following multiple breaking
stories including a source now telling
cnn to expect
a flurry of pardons from president trump
in the coming days
this comes as the white house is dodging
questions about reports the president
may actually be considering pardons
for his personal attorney rudy giuliani
and members of the first
family we're joined by the chairman of
the house intelligence committee
california democratic representative
adam schiff congressman
thanks so much for joining us if the
president
does indeed pardon let's say rudy
giuliani or any members of his family
would you see that and i asked preet
bharara this question
as essentially an admission of guilt
i certainly would view it that way i
think millions of americans would view
it that way
if there was no belief in criminality
why would he
think a pardon was necessary but
nonetheless you can see the president
trying to lay the foundation
for that kind of a inherently
self-dealing and i think corrupt act
by suggesting that uh you know vengeful
biden administration
bureaucrats might go after him uh so you
see him laying the foundation
and this is a president to you know on
the way into office
uh you know acted corruptly and i think
is determined on the way out to do the
same
in 2018 uh the president said i'm
quoting him now
i have the absolute right to pardon
myself
some of his allies are actually pushing
that he do just that
can he go ahead and pardon himself
before he leaves office
well you know he can try the question is
will it be null and void and i think the
answer is yes
he can say i hereby pardon myself but if
he is brought up on federal charges and
that's how that would be tested
it would ultimately be decided by the
supreme court
are you allowed to be the judge of your
own case is the president
effectively above the law and i think
any court
uh should resolve that and would resolve
that by saying no
uh the pardon power does not allow a
president to self-pardon because
to do so would make the constitution a
suicide pact
it would effectively undermine so many
other provisions of the constitution
including the one
that requires the president to
faithfully execute the laws
uh but uh but it hasn't been tried
before because we haven't had a
president corrupt enough to try it
before
uh so we'll we'll have to wait and see
whether it gets tested in court if
the president goes in that direction the
white house uh
congressman wouldn't say today if
president trump has confidence in the
attorney general of the united states
bilbao
after bard debunked the president's
election fraud claims
what does that tell you well
you know i think the attorney general
answered a question that many of us had
which is is there no line he is willing
to cross
uh to carry water for the president and
apparently there was a line
and that was the attorney general was
not going to join
completely fallacious claims of massive
fraud following our election
now he is willing to do other things
that are inappropriate and political and
partisan
like this secret appointment of durham
as a special counsel
in an effort i guess to placate any
members of the base that he will
alienate
by making the statement he did about the
elections but but nonetheless
uh i think it tells you that the circle
around the president
is willing to continue to engage in
these monstrously false claims of fraud
is a dwindling number of people and as i
pointed out yesterday and i think it's
very significant
i'll point it out again barr actually
said it's not just the department
of justice that found no evidence of
widespread fraud in the election
but it's also the department of homeland
security which investigated
found no evidence of widespread fraud
either
before i let you go congressman the
house speaker nancy pelosi now wants
covid relief talks based on
this 908 billion dollar proposal put out
by a bipartisan group
of senators does that proposal do you
believe stand
a real chance and if if you can't reach
a deal how do you explain
to the millions of americans out there
who are about to lose unemployment
benefits
might be kicked out of their homes might
not have enough money to put food on the
table
how do you explain to them the urgent
need to get
money and get relief to them right now
well i think it does stand a very good
chance of becoming a part of the
government funding package to keep the
government open and we have to take up
within the next two weeks
i hope and pray that we do pass a relief
package
that is based on what's set out in that
bipartisan compromise
and uh you know how do you explain if
congress doesn't well that will be
something that mitch mcconnell will have
to explain to the country
because right now he is the number one
impediment to getting to a deal
um and so you know the the democratic
leadership has
uh compromised by uh you know
essentially agreeing
to start from a blueprint that's less
than half of what we had asked for
uh mcconnell uh should be willing to do
at least double of what he
started out with and then we'd have a
deal but we'll have to see
whether uh mcconnell wants to put a lump
of coal in people's stocking this year
um the reality is wolf uh millions of
americans can't wait
millions of businesses will disappear
and not re-emerge
next year if we don't help them now yeah
these stakes uh right now are so
so enormous uh congressman as usual
thanks so much for joining us