Schiff: Justice Department 'ought to be investigating' Trump's actions after the 2020 election

Days after the House committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol said there was evidence that Donald Trump committed crimes in trying to overturn the presidential election that he lost, Rep. Adam Schiff urged action from the Justice Department.

Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning, Schiff said: “We believe there's a good-faith basis to conclude that the former president and his campaign may have violated any number of federal laws,” adding: “I do think the Justice Department ought to be looking at these issues and ought to be investigating.”

The California Democrat is a member of the Jan. 6 committee, which on Wednesday released and filed its findings in federal court. The committee’s body of evidence included testimony and documents that it said shows that Trump misled the public and pushed advisers to try to overturn the election.

On Sunday, Schiff referenced a “graphic example” in which the former president spoke on the phone with Georgia’s secretary of state after the election, urging him to find the exact number of ballots Trump needed to take the victory from Joe Biden. The Republican state official, Brad Raffensperger, resisted Trump’s efforts, and later said he felt the then-president’s words were a threat to him.

Schiff brought up that example on Sunday when discussing the Jan. 6 committee’s allegations that Trump violated laws and defrauded the American people.

“I think if anyone else had engaged in that conversation, they would be under investigation, and it should be no different for the former president,” Schiff said.

The committee’s filing was part of an effort to get attorney John Eastman, who spearheaded Trump’s legal efforts to overturn the election, to turn over emails with further details of the scheme. On Friday, a judge rejected Eastman’s efforts to slow down this process.