WATCH: “Screw Them” – Sen. Schiff Blasts Trump’s Weaponized DOJ After Failed Attempt to Indict Sitting Members of Congress on MS NOW

Schiff: "While we still have a democracy, none of us can hide. We all have to tell the administration; they can buzz off. They can screw off, screw them. We're not going to give into this kind of despotism, because this is such a serious threat to our democracy."

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Adam (D-Calif.) joined MS NOW's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell to condemn Donald Trump's failed attempt to indict 6 sitting Members of Congress for exercising their First Amendment rights.

Schiff called out the Trump administration for betraying the rule of law, and emphasized their actions point to the road to dictatorship. He highlighted the importance of Americans speaking out against the Trump administration's lawless actions in order to protect our democracy.

View the full interview here.

Key excerpts:

On grand jury rejecting DOJ's attempt to indict Members of Congress:

Lawrence, this is a stunning development.It is really hard to overstate the significance of this, the assault, the frontal assault on the rule of law. The Justice Department under Pam Bondi, no doubt, acting under the instructions of the President, United States sought to indict six members of Congress for exercising their First Amendment rights, for serving their constituents, for upholding their responsibility as Representatives. They sought to indict six members of Congress. It is just such a shock to see the rule of law so betrayed, so utterly betrayed. If we look at this period in the future and the milestones on the road to dictatorship, this is a big one. To consider, how this Justice Department has been misused, how it's been weaponized in such a blatant fashion, and the fact that the grand jury rejected it, of course, is very significant because that's so unusual.But it shouldn't dissuade us or fail to have us appreciate the lawlessness of what they tried to do. The fact it was unsuccessful, yes, should be applauded. The fact they tried, though is a five-alarm fire.

[…] I applaud Mark Kelly for his statement, and Elissa Slotkin and Jason Crow. Basically, what they're saying, what I'm saying, what all of us are saying, that are sort of in the cross hairs of this department of injustice is basically screw you. We're not going to stop for one moment speaking out. We're going to do our job as Representatives, no matter what you throw our way. And I think we all have to do this, Members of Congress, certainly. But universities need to push back. Law firms need to push back. Companies need to push back. While we still have a democracy, none of us can hide. We all have to tell the administration; they can buzz off. They can screw off, screw them. We're not going to give into this kind of despotism, because this is such a serious threat to our democracy. And I know we've seen a lot of them, and we can get numb to it, but what we have just witnessed today is a just a full on assault on our free speech rights and the right of Americans to be represented in Congress by their chosen representatives and not to have the administration weaponize The Justice Department to try to remove them from office.

On Sen. Schiff's experience as a former federal prosecutor:

[…] It's telling that the only person apparently on this indictment, willing to submit this is Pirro, the U.S. Attorney herself. None of the career people evidently wanted their names on this, and they understand that what they have been asked to do in seeking indictment with on a fraudulent basis like this is a violation of their code of ethics. It's probably a violation of their ethical standards under the Bar Association. It may be worse than that, and they don't want to be tarred by this the way Pirro it will be tarred forever by this. But Bondi, Blanche, Pirro, all of these people in the Justice Department, I know they won't, but they should be completely ashamed of themselves. It's just disgraceful conduct. And I think any prosecutor asked to bring basis cases like this needs to do their civic duty and say, I won't do it and be willing to be fired or to quit. Because, you know, we all need to show that courage that the grand jury showed and that others have demonstrated in standing up to this president who wants to be a dictator.

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