WATCH: Schiff, With Impeachment Growing Unpopular, Won’t Go It Alone

On Sunday, speaking on CNN’s State of the Union with host Jake Tapper, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) who has been leading the charge in the impeachment hearings targeting President Trump, suddenly wavered as to whether he will seek to impeach the president, dodging Tapper by stating weakly, “I want to discuss this with my constituents and my colleagues before I make a final judgment on it.” Schiff sounded like a man who was going to make darn sure he wasn’t out on a limb while the branch was being sawed off behind him, saying, “This is not a decision I will be making alone.”

Some polls have shown support dropping for impeaching the president; a Politico/Morning Consult poll showed support for the investigation dropped from 50% to 48% while opposition rose from 42% to 45%.

“You have no more public testimony scheduled that we know of. Your committee has begun writing the report,” said Tapper. “So is that it? Are there going to be any more hearings, any more witnesses, or are you done?”

Schiff: “We don’t foreclose the possibility of more depositions, more hearings. We are in the process of getting more documents all the time.” He insisted, “And what’s more, the evidence is already overwhelming. The remarkable thing about this — and we have done this with almost — well, literally no documentary production from the administration — is, the facts are really not contested.”

Tapper pressed, “So, if the facts aren’t contested, and your committee is writing up the report, and you don’t, at least as of now, have any scheduled witnesses or depositions, do you think President Trump should be impeached?”

Schiff, dodging, “I want to discuss this with my constituents and my colleagues before I make a final judgment on it.”

“But there are a couple really important things we need to think about,” Schiff added. “And one is, are we prepared to say that soliciting foreign interference, conditioning official acts, like $400 million in taxpayer money, White House meetings, to get political favors is somehow now compatible with the office? Because, if we do, it’s basically carte blanche for this president and anyone who comes after him. But are we also prepared to say that Congress will tolerate the complete stonewalling of an impeachment inquiry or our oversight? Because, if we do, it’ll mean that the impeachment clause is a complete nullity and, more than that, our oversight ability is really an ability in name only.”

Tapper pressed again: “But if that’s your view — and you have also said that this week’s testimony ‘goes right to the heart of the issue of bribery,’ and you have also said that what you have seen is ‘far more serious than what Nixon did,’ explain to me how you have not come to the conclusion that the president should be impeached. I mean, it sounds like you think he should be impeached.”

Schiff, dodging again: “Well, I certainly think that the evidence that’s been produced overwhelmingly shows serious misconduct by the president. But I do want to hear more from my constituents, and I want to hear more from my colleagues. This is not a decision I will be making alone.”

Schiff later claimed that “the public support for impeachment has grown fairly dramatically in the last two months …  And if we decide our duty is to impeach, then we need to make the case to the American people. And we have to hope that we will be successful in making that case … If there is not some deterrent, even if it doesn’t mean that the Republicans provide the kind of support for the Constitution that they should, if there isn’t some deterrent, we can darn well be sure this president will commit even more egregious acts in the months ahead.”

“And, once again, it sounds like you’re ready to impeach President Trump,” Tapper replied. “But I know you’re going to talk to your constituents first.”

Schiff later stated, “I’m not at this point, Jake, prepared to say what I will recommend.”

Video below: