Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees: Interview With Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)

Interview

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Well, the evidence was already strong in the original indictment, but in this superseding indictment, now, you just see how much more evidence the special counsel has,.

You know, there are evidently cooperating witnesses. There is surveillance footage of some of the figures in this new superseding indictment, including De Oliveira meeting surreptitiously with others, some night meetings, some morning meetings, meetings in an audio cabinet or audio room, a small audio room to sort of discuss the plot to destroy these surveillance tapes.

It just shows what incredible body of evidence that special counsel has, but it also shows just how much consciousness of guilt there is on the part of the president. The overlapping efforts to obstruct the investigation, if, you know Part of his earlier defense which is he had declassified this information or he had the right to declassify it. If any of that was true, of course he wouldn't need to go to these extraordinary efforts to destroy evidence.

So it is, I think, very powerful again, and shows, you know, just how much evidence there is, but also I think, is going to put enormous pressure on this newly indicted, De Oliveira to cooperate, as well as on Nauta to cooperate and I wouldn't be surprised to see one or both of them ultimately decide it's in their best interest to do so.

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Well, I think it's very problematic, you know, that you have yet another person implicated, someone who apparently had a direct conversation with the president and then relates that conversation to a third person who sounds like they are cooperating with the authorities. So it's, I think, very damning.

What I also found striking, Anderson, was, you know, this conversation where the president wants to know if De Oliveira is loyal and finding out that he's loyal wants to offer him counsel. This was reminiscent of some of the joint defense agreements we saw in the Russia investigation.

It was reminiscent in the January 6 investigation where you had the use of Trump paid for counsel, essentially trying to counsel witnesses, not to share everything they knew. And, you know, this is like a mob strategy, but I think it's going to be very unsuccessful here because there is such a strong body of evidence.

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You know, I've always thought a big part of his running again for president was to stay one step ahead of the jailer. That is certainly a much more pressing reason now. I also think it's about money. Running for president has been a lucrative proposition for him, so I think, in part, it's about money.

But certainly, the legal jeopardy he faces, all of the efforts his team is making will make to delay the trial until after the election in the hope that if he gets elected, he can use the power of the presidency to make it all go away. And then, you know, there's this recurrent theme in Donald Trump of projecting onto others what he himself tries to do.

This is the man who, more than anyone else in history, tried essentially to interfere in an election, to overturn an election. And now he's accusing Joe Biden of that. So, you know, very consistent. He's playing the victim, blaming others. When you can see in this indictment, again, how it's the president's own conduct that time after time gets him to trouble the law.

Sadly, too, though, it has been a system that has failed to hold him accountable, that has encouraged his repeated law breaking.

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Thank you.

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