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Schiff: Russia investigation is just beginning

by TheHill.com - 06/18/17 10:34 AM ET

.@RepAdamSchiff to @ThisWeekABC: "I think there is evidence" of collusion, "enough that we ought to be investigating." pic.twitter.com/XwyfsKsPcL

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 18, 2017

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on Sunday he believes the investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russian election meddling is just beginning.

“We are far closer to the beginning of the investigation than we are to the end,” Schiff, who is the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC’s Martha Raddatz on “This Week.”

Schiff also cited Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s testimony to the Senate last week, where he confirmed that the president asked him to leave the room before a conversation with former FBI Director James Comey. Comey separately testified that during the conversation, the president asked him to drop the FBI probe into ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn.

{mosads}The Democrat added that he thinks the president knew asking Comey to drop the investigation was inappropriate.

“We don’t have one ethical standard for this president and a different ethical standard for other presidents,” Schiff said.

“The president cleared the room of everyone except himself and James Comey, [and] that signifies, I think, that this president knows all too well that it was inappropriate for him to be asking the attorney general to essentially drop a criminal case against his most high-profile surrogate,” he said.

Schiff went on to say he believes there is evidence of obstruction of justice.

“The fact that the president can fire someone for good cause and can fire someone for no cause, doesn’t mean he can fire someone for malicious cause,” Schiff said, referring to Trump’s firing of Comey.

Schiff’s comments come after a Washington Post report surfaced this week claiming that the president was under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller for obstruction of justice.

Trump said in a tweet Friday he was under investigation for firing Comey, although his legal team says he was not confirming anything.

Tags Adam Schiff Jeff Sessions