Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) spoke to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Thursday, June 15, 2017. (Screen grab from MSNBC)

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House intelligence committee, went straight from Thursday night’s congressional baseball game to the Rachel Maddow show, where he discussed his desire to have his committee investigate potential obstruction of justice by President Trump.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller already is looking into that. But Schiff said his committee should, too.

Even though the House committee can’t bring charges, as Mueller can, the committee can “report to the American people,” Schiff said.

Negative publicity, in other words.

“It's our job to figure out what has happened to make sure there’s no interference with any investigation, including our own. And to report to the American people. So this work needs to be done, and we’re the only committee in the House that's authorized to look into this.”

Schiff pointed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ refusal to discuss his conversations with President Trump when Sessions testified before the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday.

“I don’t think we want to create a new precedent where members of the administration can come before Congress, not answer questions, not invoke the (executive) privilege either. I think that would be a terrible precedent, and what’s more, we need to know the answers.



"If his (Sessions’) letter, if Rod Rosenstein's memo, were both written knowing that they would be used as a pretext for a decision that was being made on other grounds as a way of hiding the true motivation -- and I don't know that that's the case -- but I do know that we should find out. Someone has to get to the bottom of this."

Maddow asked Schiff if he’s negotiating with Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) about adding an obstruction of justice investigation to the ongoing Russia-interference investigation, which so far has yielded nothing much. (Conaway is leading the intelligence committee's Russia probe.)

“I have begun discussions with him about it earlier in the week,” Schiff said.

“Now, Mike was at the ballfield practicing during that terrible attack. So he is, I think quite properly, taking some time to deal with that. And I look forward when he gets back next week -- and he may have been in this week, I didn't have a chance to see him -- to discussing it further.



“But I do think that if there is anyone trying to interfere with what the FBI is doing we need to put a stop to it. We need to make sure that Bob Mueller gets all the resources that he needs to do his job and is free from any kind of interference. And if there has been any effort to interfere or obstruct, that’s something that we need to inform the American people,” Schiff said.



“And of course, if we discover evidence of that, that's also something we would share with Bob Mueller.”