On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) stated that the DOJ’s independence has been eroding and “it certainly looks like a Saturday Night Massacre in slow motion.”

Host Andrea Mitchell asked, “So, how concerned are you that we are reaching a point here where, if Rod Rosenstein’s dodge, if you will, to turn this over to the inspector general…if that does not pass muster with the president, are we getting to a real confrontation?”

Schiff answered, “Well, it certainly looks like a Saturday Night Massacre in slow motion. We have seen the erosion of the independence of the Justice Department, which alarms me. We saw it in the lifting of the gag rule on the witness in Uranium One. We saw it in the acceleration of the investigation against Andrew McCabe so that he could be fired before his pension vested. And now see it in the president ordering an investigation of his own investigators. Now, clearly, this is designed to undermine the investigation. It’s designed to distract from the president’s growing legal troubles. And the question is, will we go along with it? And sadly, we have a weak speaker, who’s not willing to stand up to this effort in the House to undermine the investigation. And we have a president who has no respect for the rule of law. And that makes for a very dangerous mix for our democracy.”

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