Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff on Sunday questioned why Republicans were placing President Donald Trump "above their oath of office" and said he would "hope to hell" to vote to impeach former President Barack Obama if he was found to have engaged in the same conduct.
"I don't think any of us have any question that had Barack Obama engaged in the activity, the conduct which is the subject these articles of impeachment, every one of these Republicans would be voting to impeach him," Schiff, of California, said during an appearance on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos. "And you know something, I have to hope to hell, George, if it were Barack Obama, I would vote to impeach him."
The House is scheduled to vote on impeachment articles in the coming week.
If approved, impeachment would then move to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said there is "no chance" that 67 senators would vote to remove Trump from office.
Schiff on Sunday said the move by Republicans puts the country "deeply at risk."
"This is, I think, the crux of the matter, which is something the framers were also deeply concerned about, and that is an excess of what they would call factionalism, but we would call extreme partisanship where it is more important to one party that the president of their party remain in office than what he does to the country, and that I think puts us deeply at risk," he said.