Adam Schiff may have made his most insane statement about President Trump yet. The Democrat representative and impeachment leader claimed on the Senate floor that if President Trump is not removed he could give Alaska to the Russians in exchange for an election win and possibly vacate the White House.
According to Fox News:
Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager, warned on Monday that if President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine are not impeachable offenses, then nothing would stand in his way from attempting bolder power grabs — going so far to claim Trump could use Alaska as a bargaining chip with “the Russians” for support in 2020.
Schiff floated the far-flung hypothetical during his closing arguments at the Senate impeachment trial. He appealed to Republicans who have acknowledged Trump’s wrongdoing in the Ukraine matter to prevent a “runaway presidency.”
“If abuse of power is not impeachable … Trump could offer Alaska to the Russians in exchange for support in the next election or decide to move to Mar-a-Lago permanently and let Jared Kushner run the country, delegating to him the decision whether to go to war,” Schiff said. “Because those things are not necessarily criminal, this argument would allow that he could not be impeached for such abuses of power. Of course, this would be absurd. More than absurd, it would be dangerous.”
The U.S. purchased what is now Alaska from Russia in 1867 for a transfer price of about $120 million in today’s dollars. William Seward, who was secretary of state under President Lincoln, had long pushed for the deal. Alaska became the 49th state on Jan. 3, 1959.
Schiff’s comments incited a response on Twitter:
Adam Schiff said we have to impeach the @POTUS or he “could offer Alaska to the Russians.”
What an insult to our intelligence!#CA28 deserves more respect. Vote https://t.co/RlzZvBswlc pic.twitter.com/Pc7zs7s9Xf
— Jennifer Barbosa for Congress (@TeamJenBarbosa) February 4, 2020
Schiff has been known to engage in hyperbole in the past even going so far as to make up things President Trump said in an effort to help his narrative.