Schiff on Trump: What could explain this kind of behavior?

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday that he sees a real issue with President Trump’s “capability” to serve, and that the president’s behavior is something “people are asking about.”

“I certainly think that there’s an issue with the president’s capability,” top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “There’s some attribute of his character that seemingly makes him incapable of introspection and a broad understanding of what the country really needs.”

“And I think it’s a question that people are asking,” he added. “You know, what is going on with this president? What could explain this kind of behavior?”

He was responding to a question about the president’s mental capacity.

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Schiff’s comments came just three days after Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Trump has not shown the “stability, nor some of the competence” necessary to serve successfully as president.

Some Democratic lawmakers, such as Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), have called for invoking the 25th Amendment, which empowers the vice president and Cabinet to force the president out of office if they deem him incapable of fulfilling his duties. Speier cited Trump’s “mental instability” in a tweet. 

But Schiff said it was too early to start thinking about such a tactic.

“You know, I don’t think we’re at a point of thinking about the 25th Amendment. I think what the authors of that amendment principally had in mind was some kind of physical incapacitation or serious mental illness or a breakdown — an inability to function in office,” he said.

“And I think we’re still far from concluding that that’s the case, even though we find, many of us, his comment anathema and there to be a serious problem here,” he continued.