WATCH: Sen. Schiff Calls Out GOP Refusal to Acknowledge Trump Conspiracies, Pushes Committee to Subpoena Volume II Report at Jack Smith Hearing

Washington, D.C . — Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called out Senate Republicans for their refusal to acknowledge President Trump’s conspiracies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Jack Smith, the former special counsel who led investigations into the events of January 6, 2021, and the case involving classified documents being stored at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. Schiff pledged to make a motion to subpoena Volume II of Jack Smith’s report at the committee’s next meeting. Schiff said “I’m going to make a motion at our next business meeting that calls for a subpoena, to subpoena your report. We should see it. The country should see it… They could’ve asked for your report. They don’t want to see your report. They don’t want the country to see your report… I hope we can let the country see your work product and see the release of the second volume of your report.” Read the full transcript below: Schiff : Mr. Smith thank you for coming to testify today. I’m sorry that you have been so villainized and attacked today. I want to point out though, what we’ve heard, and I’ve sat through almost every minute of this hearing. What we’ve heard and what we haven’t heard from my colleagues across the aisle, they have attacked you repeatedly, aggressively, inappropriately, scandalously, but none of them have contested what took place on this day. None of them had said there was no attack on January 6. None of them have tried to deny the assault on the police officers. None of them have even suggested the President wasn’t involved. None of them have contested any of these things. No, they have attacked you because they don’t want to address the facts. They don’t want to talk about this, they would rather attack you. And just to level set here, for all of the outrage of my colleagues over your requesting toll records because Rudy Giuliani and other co-conspirators were calling some of the members of this body, for all of the outrage over that, I should let you know, because you may not be aware of this, the Barr Justice Department sought toll records for members of Congress, not a peep from my colleagues about that, but that involved toll records of Democrats. That apparently was okay. That apparently, doesn’t violate Speech and Debate. And just to level set a little further, I want to tell you what my colleagues here have had to say about an attempt to indict two of their Senate colleagues and four of their House colleagues for making a video that said that the military does not have to carry out an illegal order. A plain statement of fact, law, and constitution. Not a peep about the fact that they were not just targeted, they were sought to be indicted. This Justice Department went before a grand jury and sought to indict them. And you’re probably familiar what happened in that grand jury, that is not a single grand juror would agree to return the indictment. Has that ever happened to you, Mr. Smith? Have you ever gone before a grand jury and had not a single grand juror refuse to return an indictment? Smith : No. Schiff : I was a prosecutor almost six years, I’ve never even heard of such a thing. But that, they don’t care about. That was Democrats, who the department sought to indict. So they don’t contest the facts of January 6. They don’t contest – and let me just go through a couple of facts. January 2, 2021, days before the election results were certified in Georgia, Trump calls the Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, and presses him to “find” 11,780 votes. Just enough votes to overtake Joe Biden by a single vote. What do my Republican colleagues have to say about that? Do they say, oh Trump never did that? Did you ever hear one of my colleagues make that claim today? Smith : No. Schiff : None of them denied the President called and pressured the Georgia Secretary to find votes that don’t exist? Did you hear any of them make that argument? Smith : No. Schiff : And of course that’s on tape, it’d be very difficult to contest that. He also said, “So what are we going to do here folks” – this is Trump on the phone – “I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break.” Did you hear any of my Republican colleagues say that that never took place? Smith : No. Schiff : They don’t contest those facts. How about this with respect to the Mar-a-Lago – well actually, respect to January 6, Trump calls top DOJ officials, December 27, 2020, acting-Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and in that 90-minute phone call Trump complains the election was stolen from him, even after DOJ officials repeatedly rebut his claims, and A.G. Rosen says, “understand the DOJ can’t and won’t snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. It doesn’t work that way.” The President, Donald Trump, replies, “I don’t expect you to do that. Just say the election was corrupt. And leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.” Did you hear any of my Republican colleagues contest those facts? Smith : No. Schiff : Did you hear any of them say, “oh Donald Trump never tried to pressure the Justice Department to make stuff up about the 2020 election,” did you hear them make that argument? Smith : No. Schiff : You’ve heard them attack you a lot, right? Smith: I did, but I’m not really concerned about that. It’s much more important that the public servants who I work with, that we stop vilifying public servants. Schiff: I agree with you completely. I’ve seen how they’ve been vilified – I heard Kash Patel, sitting where you’re sitting, make the plainly false argument that none of the agents who worked for you were fired for working on the investigation of Donald Trump. He actually made that claim. That is just, patently absurd. And there will be a time when he will face consequences for making claims like that under oath. But let me ask you this. For all of the hyperventilation we heard today on the other side of the aisle, if this committee really wanted to know the facts, for example, about the storage of all the Mar-a-Lago classified documents – can we see an image of the Mar-a-Lago documents? Wouldn’t they want to see Volume Two of your report, if they wanted to know the facts? Wouldn’t that report shed light on the facts of the President sequestering all these documents in the bathroom at Mar-a-Lago? Smith: I want to make sure I am in compliance with Judge Cannon’s orders, so I’m not going to speak about anything that would even imply what’s in that report. Schiff: Let me ask you about this procedurally then. The Justice Department prior to Donald Trump becoming President wanted Volume Two of your report released, did they not? Smith: The Justice Department I believe released Volume One, that’s correct. Schiff: I’m talking about Volume Two. They also wanted to release Volume Two, did they not? Smith: You know, honestly, I submitted these reports under the special counsel regulations, and I left the Justice Department immediately thereafter. Schiff: That was the position of the Department of Justice prior to the new crowd coming in under Donald Trump. The new crowd under Donald Trump, former criminal defense lawyers for Donald Trump, changed their position. They would no longer advocate for the release of your report. I would think, if our chairman and our Republican colleagues really wanted to get to the facts, they would want to see that report. The chairman and ranking member together have the power to subpoena that report. I’m going to make a motion at our next business meeting that calls for a subpoena, to subpoena your report. We should see it. The country should see it. Those cases have been dismissed. There is no prejudice to any ongoing prosecution. They want to see the facts, let’s show them the facts, but they don’t want to see the facts. They could’ve asked for your report. They don’t want to see your report. They don’t want the country to see your report. No, they want to come in here today and call you a dirtbag. Because that means they don’t have to confront any of the evidence you produced. And you made a point earlier that I want to underscore, because I sat on the January 6 committee. What made those hearings powerful, what made your investigation powerful, the reason grand jurors among others indicted the President is because the witnesses were almost all Republicans. It wasn’t a partisan thing. The witnesses spoke about the crimes the President committed. And, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would have the country believe that, well, because Donald Trump was indicted in two separate cases, something unprecedented in history, then you must believe that the prosecutions were improper. Well, that’s one explanation, it’s the wrong explanation. It could also be, this is the first President in history who has repeatedly broken the law and the first President ever to incite an insurrection in an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power. It is the first President who has tried to obstruct an investigation into the withholding of boxes and boxes of classified materials. So, I want to thank you again for your service to the country. I want to thank you for the service of every member of your team, on behalf of one representative of the federal government, I want to apologize for the deplorable treatment that your team has received from this Congress and from this government, for all of the death threats they’ve received, for the improper firing, for the burdens placed on their families. My colleagues talked about the stress on members having their toll records requested as witnesses, not even targets. Well, what about the death threats that your team is receiving, that you have received? And so I thank you for taking on this challenge. I thank you for your willingness to testify, your eagerness to testify. I hope that we can let the country see your work product and see the release of the second volume of your report. You can’t testify about that today because Judge Cannon doesn’t want you to. Her decisions have just bent over backwards to do service for the President. And because this committee doesn’t want you to. And this Justice Department won’t give you guidance about what you can even say today because they don’t want you to. They want you to have to fear they will come after you if you testify about the volumes of evidence you have acquired. So thank you for your service to the country, and I’m sorry you have been treated with such shabby, ad hominem attacks. You deserve better and so do the American people. ###