Political News

Rep. Adam Schiff: Trump's 'modus operandi is to divide us'

California Rep. Adam Schiff on Sunday accused President Donald Trump of attempting to divide Americans with his rhetoric despite his condemnation of the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Posted Updated

By
Veronica Stracqualursi
, CNN
(CNN) — California Rep. Adam Schiff on Sunday accused President Donald Trump of attempting to divide Americans with his rhetoric despite his condemnation of the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

"This President's modus operandi Is to divide us. ... It's not enough that a day on a tragedy he says the right words, if every other day of the year he's saying things to bring us into conflict with one another," Schiff told CNN's Jake Tapper Sunday on "State of the Union."

Following Saturday morning's shooting at the synagogue, which left 11 dead, Trump condemned the act of violence as an "anti-Semitic act" and "pure evil."

"There must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism in America or for any form of religious or racial hatred or prejudice," Trump added.

Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee ranking member, told CNN that he did not agree with Trump's suggestion that Saturday's tragedy could have been prevented if there was an armed guard in the temple.

"The broader issue is, what kind of climate are we creating in the country?" Schiff said, adding that the "President has a pivotal role there."

Schiff accused Trump of setting a tone "of division, often one of hatred, sometimes one of incitement of violence against journalists, and there is no escaping our responsibility."

The California Democrat argued "it's going to fall on the rest of us to try and make this a more perfect union."

Copyright 2024 by Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.