FACT CHECK // Democrats Didn't Take Time to Fully Pursue Privileged Documents

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) just offered his first amendment on the Senate floor asking to subpoena privileged documents - documents that the House didn't feel were necessary to fully pursue when they were building their case.

As U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Subcommittee on The Constitution, has explained time and time again, the House had every opportunity to not only issue subpoenas for documents, but to also enforce those subpoenas in the courts.

At the Heritage Foundation, Sen. Cruz said:

"As weak as the first article, the second article is orders of magnitude weaker. It is a jaw-droppingly weak article. Now, why is that? First of all, it's worth noting what the second article is. So its obstruction. Media folks report, ‘Oh! Obstruction! Okay, that's bad.' Well hold on a second. It's not obstruction of justice. Obstruction of justice is a crime. That's not what they alleged. Why? Because they can't prove an obstruction of justice. [...] They simply said the mere fact that you assert a privilege is itself impeachable, without their bothering to issue a subpoena or litigate any of these matters. By the way, if that is impeachable conduct, all 45 presidents we've had the United States have committed impeachable conduct. It is an absurd standard to say asserting a privilege is a high crime and misdemeanor. And that's what the second article in the House [says]."

And during a radio interview with Ben Shapiro:

"You know what the House Democrats didn't do? They didn't issue subpoenas and go to court and try to enforce them."

Put simply, this is an attempt by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Democrats to use the Senate to clean up after their sham impeachment in the House. Why, when Schiff just said "the evidence against the President is overwhelming," do Democrats need privileged documents?

BOTTOM LINE: As Schiff explained on ABC This Week on Sunday, this is what Sen. Schumer's amendment is about:

"The reality is, because what the president is threatening to do is cheat in the next election, you cannot wait months and years to be able to remove that threat from office."

###