Munich, Germany — U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined MSNBC’s Alex Witt Reports to discuss Vice President JD Vance’s concerning speech to European partners at the Munich Security Conference, express bipartisan support in the Senate for Ukraine, warn of Kash Patel’s unfitness to be director of the FBI, and highlight Elon Musk’s destruction of government agencies for a wealthy tax cut.
Senator Schiff is in Munich, Germany attending the Munich Security Conference as part of a bipartisan, bicameral congressional delegation. The conference is one of the leading forums in international security policy, where solutions are developed and opinions exchanged.
Watch the full interview here.
Key Excerpts:
On Vance’s troubling comments at the Munich Security Conference:
They were really shocking and so disappointing when what I think our allies needed to hear was a renewed commitment by America to NATO, to our European partners. A willingness to stand up to the Kremlin and make sure that we provide Ukraine with all of the help that it needs to fight this war of aggression by Russia. But instead, what Europe got was a lecturing, a condescension, a demeaning speech that really, I think, just attacked our allies. It was greeted, I think, enthusiastically in one place, and that was the Kremlin. Exactly the wrong message right now.
On bipartisan congressional support for Ukraine:
There is really strong bipartisan support for Ukraine. We sat down on a bipartisan basis with Zelensky yesterday, and I think all around the table, we expressed our appreciation for the heroic sacrifice Ukraine has made, the fact that we want to maintain a strong level of support for Ukraine. So I think Zelensky heard that loud and clear from the U.S. Senate on a bipartisan basis, and I hope that we can allay some of the concerns that have been raised by the real mixture of messages that Europe, Russia and Ukraine have been getting from the Oval Office and from the Defense Department.
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I can understand the apprehension that he must feel. I certainly will be working my hardest in the Senate, and I’ll have a lot of allies in this, in fighting for strong support for Ukraine and no concessions to the Kremlin.
On the ongoing concerns over Kash Patel:
We have whistleblower information, according to our ranking member, that indicates that Patel was deeply involved in the firing of these top-level FBI agents and officers. And during his confirmation hearing, we asked him about this, did he have knowledge about this? And as you were saying, when I asked these questions in written form, his answers were “not that I recall,” “not that I recall,” “not the route I recall.” Now, it’d be one thing if these were events that happened years earlier, but these were events that happened hours or days earlier, and for him to say he doesn’t remember was so duplicitous. So we want to bring it back in the committee to a lot of unanswered questions, also about $1 to $5 million in stock options that he has, or a stock investment that he has in a Chinese Communist Party-funded company with a terrible record of using child labor and slave labor.
[…] The FBI director is going to be focused on political witch hunts, not focused on keeping them safe. This is somebody who said he wanted to close down the FBI headquarters on day one, who is really more suited as an internet troll than he is as FBI director. But sadly, it looks like he is headed for confirmation.
On Elon Musk’s destruction of government agencies:
[…] Thousands and thousands of Americans losing their jobs, but also losing important work that is really central to our national security interests, the dismantling of USAID, for example. Here in Munich, we’ve been talking to our partners about how that just abandons the field around the world for China to move in and secure basing rights and mineral rights, because we’re no longer in the development business around the world. So it started out just, I think, mostly Democrats pushing back. But now you’re starting to see Republicans in different parts of the country who are deeply impacted. You’ve got my colleagues who are losing jobs in the Forest Service. And you’ve got other my colleagues that are representing farm states and are losing export opportunities. So, I think we’re starting to see more bipartisan pushback.
But one thing I think it’s really important for the American people to understand that’s really behind all this. Why these cuts? Why the urgency? Why is the Trump administration and Elon Musk doing this? Basically, they need to come up with trillions to fund a tax cut for wealthy people and corporations.
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