House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff outmaneuvered House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler to become the main congressional figure pushing for President Donald Trump's impeachment, according to a new book released on Tuesday, Fox News reported.
The book, "Abuse of Power" by Fred Lucas, a White House reporter for the Heritage Foundation-linked Daily Signal, describes how Schiff won the battle to be named the head House impeachment manager and Nadler was relegated to a backbench role.
"It was the [Robert] Mueller hearings that marked a fatal political blow for Nadler and boost for Schiff, according to high-level congressional sources," Lucas wrote. "When Mueller came in and Nadler had promised this grand presentation from Mr. Mueller, that was the biggest dud and undermining of what they were doing," the book quotes "a senior level Judiciary Committee source" as saying.
"I think that was strike one."
The source then referred to the September hearing in the House Judiciary Committee featuring former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as another key moment, saying that after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, "saw Corey Lewandowski's thing, she basically said, 'Nadler is done. We are not going to him for an impeachment.'"
The book then claims that Schiff received another boost when a whistleblower raised concerns about Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Trump appeared to predicate military aid to Kyiv on political favors from Zelekskiy.
Schiff, as House Intelligence Committee chairman, was well positioned to take advantage of this, according to Lucas, who wrote that "The ambitious Schiff seemed to know what was coming and might well have been planning to seize the much-desired impeachment banner away from the beleaguered Nadler."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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