There is crisis of credibility with Donald Trump, says Charles Schumer

There's so much factual fabrication, then backsliding and contradiction, says Schumer

A series of recent developments and actions coming out of the White House shows that there is a crisis of credibility with President Donald Trump, a top American Democratic Senator said on Sunday.

"There is a crisis of credibility with the president. I mean, so many things, I mean, there's so much factual fabrication, and then backsliding and contradiction," Senate Minority leader Charles Schumer told CNN.

Schumer asked Republicans in Congress to stop "choosing party over country at a time where we can ill afford it" and to stop saying things they know are "deliberately false" in a show of "loyalty" to President Trump.

"We need our Republican colleagues, not every day, but on the occasions when it's necessary, such as for a special prosecutor, such as what has happened in the last week, to speak out, because this is country. This is an issue of country, not party," he said.

"Our credibility, the credibility of the presidency with the American people, and of our country with the world, is rapidly eroding because of this crisis of credibility," Schumer said.

"The people in the White House have an obligation, if they know something is false, not to say it. I know they work for the president. They're supposed to be loyal, but they don't have to say things if they know that they're deliberately false," he said in response to a question.

With the Department of Justice in the process of interviewing candidates for the position of Director of FBI, Schumer said the candidate should be independent and non- partisan.

"The nominee should be not a partisan politician, not part of either party. This demands a serious, down-the-middle investigation. Second, it ought to be somebody who is experienced. You need a really good prosecutor here, somebody who knows how to do it," he said.

"It should be someone with courage. If there is interference or attempted interference to shut down the investigation, to misdirect it, you need somebody who is going to stand up. So, those are my three criteria. I'm not going to name any specific people, nor criticise or evaluate any people who have been named until they name somebody. But the criteria are pretty obvious," Schumer said.

Schumer also said he would support blocking the nomination of a new FBI director until a special prosecutor is appointed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"There are a lot of Democrats who feel that way. We will have to discuss it as a caucus, but I would support that move, because who the FBI director is, is related to who the special prosecutor is," he said.