WATCH: Sen. Schiff Hammers Republicans’ Refusal to Negotiate on Shutdown, Health Care Price Spikes, Condemns Trump’s Targeting of Political Foes on NBC’s Meet the Press

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined NBC's Meet the Press with Kristen Welker for a wide-ranging discussion where he reiterated President Donald Trump's responsibility for the government shutdown, the health care price spikes facing millions of American families, and Congressional Republicans' refusal to work with Democrats to lower health care costs and stop millions from losing their health care.

Schiff also discussed President Trump's ongoing attacks against his political enemies, including Democratic-led cities across America, highlighting Trump's willingness to destroy the rule of law and weaponize key nonpartisan arms of the government like the Justice Department and the National Guard.

View the full interview here.

Key Excerpts:

On Trump and Republicans refusing to negotiate an end to the government shutdown and lower costs for Americans:

I'm confident all Democrats understand that millions and millions of their constituents are about to be priced out of their health care. I was in California last week, in Oceanside and in Anaheim, average families of four are going to see the premiums go up by 900 to $1,000 a month. No one can afford that, and that's going to happen all across the country. So, I think all my colleagues understand the crisis.

We need a president who can act like an adult, who can come to the table and negotiate an end to their self-imposed health care crisis. Right now, we don't see that. We see Trump out on the golf course. We see the Speaker telling his House colleagues not to even come to session, that there's no work for the federal government to do apparently. That's completely unacceptable. And in addition to the need to restore health care affordability for people, we need to make sure that any agreement that we reach with Republicans, they will honor. Because right now, they're telling us, "You can reach an agreement with us, but we're simply going to withhold any money that's important to you, any programs that are important to you." And as for the Speaker telling you, or not telling you, his position on the president threatening mass layoffs of federal employees, there's no one forcing him to do that. He will do that because he wants to do that. Because he and Russell Vought want to cause even more pain for the American people. That is unprecedented. No other president during shutdown has sought to maximize the harms to people, but that's where this president is coming from.

On Trump eroding the trust between the American people and the military:

[…] The president was being candid when he described these American cities as the enemy within. He views them as the enemy within.That is unprecedented in its dangerousness. That is that the American president who views cities that didn't support him or states that didn't support him as the enemy, that he describes the opposite party as beholden to Satan. That's where this president is coming from. And the idea that we will militarize these cities, that we will impose the U.S. military on the mayors and governors of those cities and states should be unthinkable.

And for Speaker Johnson to claim, as he did when you interviewed him, that somehow these National Guard troops that, over the governor's opposition, are being forced to engage in policing or immigration enforcement, are very happy to be doing it - I can tell you in California, the National Guard were not happy to be doing it. It is, I think, greatly impacting morale in the National Guard. And it is also disrupting the trust that Americans have for their National Guard. We have a particular bond in California where they come to our rescue during fires and floods and other natural disasters. That is being eroded as, I think, is also military readiness when we're diverting military resources for these improper purposes.

On Trump's baseless quest for retribution and the need for Republicans to stand up to the corruption:

[…] He's described me as the enemy within. He's described other Democratic elected officials as the enemy within. He is using the Justice Department to go after his political enemies, and he's using the Justice Department to protect his political friends, like Tom Homan, the border czar, who reportedly took 50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents. And they made the case go away. This should concern every American, not just those he's tweeting about, like myself, but anyone who cares about whether the Justice Department can be used against people for expressing their views, or doing their job, or holding the president accountable, anyone who cares about whether the administration can go after late night comedians, or tell corporations who they can hire, or tell law firms who they can represent.

It is all part of the same attack on our democracy. And I will say, if this goes on, if Republicans allow this to go on for four years, there will be nothing left of our democracy. We have an opportunity to stop this. It would require just a handful of Republicans of conscience to oppose these lawless actions, this abuse of the Justice Department and abuse of the [FCC] and everything else. We need them to stand up and do their duty.

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