WATCH: Sen. Schiff Calls Out Venezuela Tanker Seizure, Talks Marking One-Year Anniversary in U.S. Senate on CNN’s The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Washington, D.C. - Last night, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined CNN's The Story Is with Elex Michaelson where he called out the Trump administration's seizure of an oil tanker in Venezuela and reiterated how unauthorized and illegal boat strikes are dragging the United States closer to war with Venezuela. Schiff highlighted the need for Republicans to stand up to the president and vote in Congress for a War Powers Resolution to block the use of U.S. forces in hostiles against or within Venezuela.

Senator Schiff also talked about this week marking his one-year anniversary since being sworn in as U.S. Senator. Schiff discussed how much he has learned about the institution and California, as well his leadership in becoming the first California Senator to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee in over 30 years. He highlighted how this position has given him an opportunity to get to know farmers in the north state, in the Central Valley, in the Central Coast and the Imperial Valley and to gain an understanding of the challenges facing farmers and farm workers, including President Trump's tariffs and immigration raids and about ongoing water issues and regulation.

Watch the full interview here.

Key Excerpts:

On the administration's seizure of a Venezuela oil tanker and dragging the country closer to war through ongoing unauthorized and illegal strikes:

[…] [I have] deep concern over it. It would be one thing if this was simply an operation to seize a tanker that's trying to evade sanctions. We want to make sure that oil is not going to Iran in violation of sanctions. But if this is part of a run up to the war, the potential war with Venezuela, and a lot of the other excuses just don't seem to add up. We've been told that the strikes on these boats are about narcotics. We've been told that this is about immigration, and now we're being told this is about oil and sanctions. What it really seems to be about, Elex, is regime change, and if that is the case, they have no authorization from Congress to go to war with Venezuela in order to change the leadership there. And it's also bewildering at the same time, because the president just pardoned the corrupt former president of Honduras for drug running. So, something doesn't add up, but the American people don't want us to get into another war, this time with Venezuela.

If there was a Senate vote to authorize war with Venezuela for regime change:

I would vote no. We don't need to go to war to change the leadership there. Now, hey, Maduro is a bad actor. He's a murderous dictator. He's an illegitimate leader of that country. That is not to say anything positive about Maduro. I think he's awful, but do we want to go to war to change the regime there? No, I don't think so. And it just, as I said, doesn't add up. When we pardon one criminal, former leader of a country and now we're going to use all of this military force to depose another, I just don't understand. What's the strategy, what's the plan, what's the policy. None of it really make sense to me.

On the legality of the Trump administration's strikes off the coast of Venezuela and what Congress can do to stop this unauthorized use of force:

[…] Tim [Kaine] and I have now introduced a couple War Powers Resolutions to put an end to these to make sure that we're not drawn into an unintended conflict or an intentional one.

[…] We could stop it, if we had just some modicum of bipartisan support to do it. We had a couple Republicans vote with us in our resolutions to put an end to this, these attacks on these ships. This was even before we killed these survivors of that one particular shipwreck. If we had more votes, we could put a stop to it. We could stop, frankly, funding going to the Pentagon for the deployment of our naval forces in the region. We could stop the Coast Guard from being funded for those purposes. But it does require Republicans to stand up to the president, and there are a lot of Republicans and a lot of MAGA Republicans who don't want another war. They've been very vocal about it. So, this would not be in contradiction to at least some of their base, but we haven't had that willingness to stand up to the president. And so, we see things being done in our name as Americans that I think are unconscionable. I want to have the American people see that video of that strike on those two shipwrecked survivors and let the American people judge whether we want that kind of thing done in our name.

On marking his one-year anniversary since swearing in and lessons learned since becoming U.S. Senator:

[…] Well, there's a lot I've learned about the institution of the Senate and about the state of California. One of the first decisions I made was to seek a seat on the Agriculture Committee. I'm the first California Senator on that Committee in over 30 years. We're the number one agriculture producing state of the union. That position, that seat at the table has given me an opportunity to get to know farmers in the north state, in the Central Valley, in the Central Coast and the Imperial Valley, to get a better standing of the challenges facing farmers and farm workers, with tariffs, with immigration raids, with water issues and regulation. So that has been very eye opening and very enjoyable.

[…] But in terms of the institution itself, I remember, after just a couple months of voting on nomination after nomination - and it wasn't just the Cabinet secretaries, it was a whole range of different positions - asking my staff, "How long does this go on, the voting on the nominations?" And one of my new staff, but a long time Senate staff, said, "Six years." And I thought this was just something that happens in the early days of the administration, but no, you vote on all these nominations, and then within a couple of years, those people, a lot of them, leave, and you're voting on their replacements, and it never ends. So that has been a surprise how much time of the Senate is simply occupied by confirmations.

[…] But actually, one thing Elex, I do like about the Senate, it is much more collegial. There is more opportunity to get things done, and that is a welcome change from the House.

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