Schiff ‘flattered’ by censure resolution, says GOP trying to distract from Trump legal problems

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that he is “flattered” by a Republican push to censure him, suggesting that the resolution was driven by hopes of distracting from former President Trump’s legal woes.

“This is really an effort at the end of the day to distract from Donald Trump’s legal problems, to gratify Donald Trump by going after someone they feel was his most effective adversary,” Schiff said on “CNN This Morning.”

“I’m flattered by it,” he continued. “But the fact that Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy [R-Calif.] would take up this MAGA resolution when we have so many pressing challenges before the country is really a terrible abuse of House resources.”

Schiff also accused his Republican colleagues of bringing forward the censure resolution as retaliation for his leading the first impeachment inquiry into the former president.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who first introduced the censure measure late last month, called it to the floor Tuesday — the same day that Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified materials.

While Democrats could make a procedural motion to table the measure — which would effectively kill it — that would require a majority vote. The office of House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.) said the House is expected to hold a procedural vote related to the resolution Wednesday.

Luna’s resolution centers on Schiff’s previous allegations of collusion between Trump’s team and Russia, declaring them “falsehoods” and claiming that the congressman “purposely deceived his Committee, Congress, and the American people.”