Schiff repeats ‘guilty’ 34 times at Trump indictment hearing

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) sought to make a statement about former President Trump’s criminal conviction on Thursday, repeating the word “guilty” 34 consecutive times, once for each of the former president’s guilty pleas. in the case of Manhattan silence.

Schiff’s decision came early in his line of questioning during the House Judiciary Committee meeting. hearing about the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) and its investigation into Trump’s hush money scheme during the 2016 election.

After being recognized by Chief Justice Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) during the hearing, Schiff said, “I want to begin by quoting the jury in the Manhattan hush money trial.”

“Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty , guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty,” he said. “That’s what the jury declared, unanimously on all counts.”

Trump was found guilty of 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records late last month, making him the first former US president to be criminally convicted.

The charges related to refunds made to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer and former lawyer, for a $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged past affair with Trump, which he denied.

Republicans in Congress were quick to criticize the trial and conviction, calling it a fundamentally unfair and politically motivated trial.

Thursday’s hearing, led by the GOP-led committee, brought that argument to the fore, with the committee writing in a statement: “With his unprecedented, politicized prosecution of President Trump, Manhattan District Attorney Bragg has opened the door to politically motivated prosecutions of federal officials by state and local prosecutors.”

Schiff rejected the allegations, but joked that Republicans did not directly argue against the allegations.

“My Republican colleagues don’t really dispute Donald Trump’s guilt; that’s fascinating,” said Schiff, who is running for the California Senate seat left open by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D). “Their argument is essentially that he should never have been prosecuted, or they falsely claim it was a political prosecution, or they falsely claim it should have been a misdemeanor, not a felony.”

“But they don’t dispute – in fact – that Donald Trump was making secret payments to a porn star to hide his affair from voters,” the lawmaker continued. “What they are really saying is that they are more than comfortable electing – nominating and electing as president of the United States – someone who makes secret payments to a porn star.”

He added: “The party, formally a moral majority, is now, I suppose, trying to form some kind of immoral majority to reinstate Donald Trump as president.”

Thursday’s hearing heard testimony from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, federal election commissioner James “Trey” Trainor III, attorney Elizabeth Price Foley and Norman Eisen, former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story