On Sunday, Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff said that former President Donald Trump’s “big lie” that he lost the 2020 presidential election was the main cause of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Schiff made his remarks during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Schiff On ‘The Lies Being Promulgated By The Former President’
CBS News host Margaret Brennan asked Schiff, “When will you begin public hearings and what is the purpose of them?”
Schiff replied, “We should begin them, I hope, in a matter of weeks, if not a couple of months from now. And what we expect to do is lay out what we’ve been learning for the American people.”
“There were several lines of effort to overturn the election,’ Schiff claimed. “There was, of course, the lies being promulgated by the former president, but also efforts with local elections officials and state legislators, efforts at the Justice Department and of course, the violent attack on Jan. 6.”
He continued, “And we hope to be able to tell the story to the country so that they understand it isn’t just about that one day, Jan. 6, but all that led up to it. What happened on that day and the continuing danger going forward?”
Brennan followed up with “So, exactly what degree of coordination have you seen so far, particularly between those within the Trump White House political operatives and the 725 people that the- that have been charged by the Justice Department?”
Schiff responded, “Well, this is really a focal point of our investigation, and that is what was the role of the former president, what was the role of his aides and advisors? Certainly, they were integrally involved in many of those lines of effort.”
“In terms of the actual violent attack on the Capitol, how much expectation of violence was there?” Schiff queried. “How much was that part of the plan, either spontaneously or in terms of any predisposition towards violence that day? That is still a matter under deep investigation.”
Brennan asked, “Because you have oversight in your intelligence committee role. I want to know to what degree you think this was an intelligence failure. Was there just a failure of imagination in terms of too much focus on militias and organized groups versus sort of a diffused threat of political violence?”
“Why was this missed?” Brennan wondered.
Schiff responded, “You know, I think that, in part, is an intelligence failure that is the failure to see all the evidence that was out there to be seen of the propensity for violence that day, a lot of it on social media.”
.@RepAdamSchiff says the role the Trump White House may have played in inciting last year's Capitol insurrection is at the "core" of the committee's investigation. pic.twitter.com/cjNq5Zg8UN
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 2, 2022
Schiff Says Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ To Blame For The Violence
“Now there are answers for why the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security failed to see it as clearly as they should have and we’re looking into that,” he added.
Schiff then said the primary reason for the attack was former President Donald Trump and his rhetoric.
“But we shouldn’t be distracted from the fact that, yes, while there were things that could and should have been done to protect the Capitol that day, the primary lever, instrument, the cause of that violence was the promulgation of a big lie by the former president, as- as his supporters said, who came and attacked the Capitol that day; they felt like they were following the president’s instructions,” Schiff insisted.
The Democrat continued, “So, it’s important to lose- that we don’t lose sight of the real motivating cause here and not just focus on the security of the building. It’s also vital we understand that this was an attack inspired by the commander in chief.”