CNN "Wolf" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Adam Schiff

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

[13:30:22] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Right now, we're getting an inside look at the vast wealth of President Trump's daughter and son- in-law, who also serves as two of his top advisers. It's raising some ethical questions. New documents how Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, earned $82 million in outside income last year while serving in the White House. Ivanka Trump bringing in earnings from the trust that oversees her clothing line, the Trump International Hotel in Washington, and severance from the Trump Organization, to name a few. Jared Kushner mainly brining money from his real estate empire along with other investments.

Joining us now, the ranking member, once again, of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff.

Any ethical concerns here or legal concerns from your perspective?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, (D), CALIFORNIA: Both ethical and legal. Certainly, if this information is derived from foreign services that are violating the Emoluments Clause, that's a serious problem. One of the issues we have now is, with the Republican majority in Congress unwilling to do any oversight of this, we simply don't know if the foreign policy of the United States is up for sale. There are a lot of allegations about the Kushners trying to get money from the gulf nations. Was that influencing the policy of the United States, vis a vis, Saudi Arabia, or antagonism towards Qatar. We don't know and we shouldn't have to ask these questions. That's why, in the past, presidents have divested themselves. In this case, the first family, which has an important policy role in this administration, has not divested, not fully. We have to wonder is Ivanka getting trademarks from China for some reason? The Chinese investment of half a billion dollars in a Trump-branded property in Indonesia, did that influence the president's decision to reverse sanctions on ZTE? We shouldn't have to wonder. But with this majority in Congress unwilling to do oversight and with the first family unwilling to divest, we are left to question whether the policy is driven by their financial interests and not the interests of our country.

BLITZER: Who is looking into this? The Republican majority, you're saying, in the House of Representatives not interested, right? SCHIFF: Not interested. It should be done by the Government Reform

Committee and Trey Gowdy, but it's not. They're unwilling to look into anything that might either embarrass the president, reveal wrongdoing by the administration, and that leaves the country in jeopardy.

BLITZER: You're saying that would change if Democrats were the majority after the midterm elections?

SCHIFF: Absolutely. We would be back to governing as well and back to a very different policy. But importantly, we'd also be doing oversight again and making sure the country is being run for the benefit of its citizens and not for the benefit of Donald Trump or Ivanka or Jared Kushner or anyone else in the family.

BLITZER: Congressman Schiff, thank you for joining us.

SCHIFF: Thanks, Wolf.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source