AUSTIN, Texas — Coming fresh off of a panel called “Misinformation and the Ongoing Danger to Our Democracy,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, joined the SXSW Live Studio for an online interview to talk about the state of the nation, covering such topics as the war in Ukraine and the Jan. 6 committee.

On the topic of Ukraine, and why the U.S. waited so long to try to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from invasion, Schiff maintained that there was no way to deter him, short of going to war. It was unusual for the intelligence community to disclose as much as they did about such operations before the event, but he said the Biden administration felt that it was important to expose the lies that were the pretense for the war ahead of time, thus robbing Putin of his justification short of aggression.

As for how to stop Putin now, Schiff recommended that the right path involves tightening the economic noose and exposing the folly of the invasion to the Russian people, as well as continuing to provide military support to Ukraine. The thing that will end the war, he said, is any sort of threat to Putin’s regime in Russia, which is why he said it’s important to continue to squeeze their economy and for popular businesses to withdraw from Russia.

The SXSW panel talked about the spread of misinformation, including the recent revelation that Tucker Carlson’s Fox News programs are being used to spread information on state-run Russian TV. Schiff recommended American businesses should boycott the channel over the spread of Russian propaganda on their network.

He said that the real danger in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is that, historically, when a dictator invades a neighboring country, there’s no inclination to stop there. He said that China is watching the U.S. response to this invasion to determine whether to invade Taiwan.

“We need to be devoted to protecting our democracy, and be willing to recognize that, historically, that’s not a free proposition,” Schiff said.

Here at home, Schiff was asked what the danger level is to the threat to U.S. democracy, and he said that most Americans don’t have any idea how close we were to losing democracy. He described “multiple points of failure” and lauded the work of local elections officials, including Republicans, for preserving the American experiment.

But he left out praise for the House minority leader.

“If Kevin McCarthy had been the Speaker (of the House), our democracy would have failed, because they would have overturned the election in the House,” he said.

Saying that the American election system is still under assault, as Democracy continues to attack itself by using, among other weapons, partisan boards to overturn elections that produce results they don’t agree with, Schiff cautioned that the spirit of Jan. 6 is still alive and kicking.

Turning to the subject of Donald Trump and responding to a question about whether the former president was compromised by Russia, Schiff said, “Sometimes the compromise is out in the open,” remembering that Trump once said he had no business dealings in Russia but had plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, a move that would have made him “hundreds of millions of dollars.”

He maintains that, as president, Trump was loath to criticize Putin because he didn’t want to miss out on future business opportunities. “In Trump’s distorted worldview, the country doesn’t matter worth a darn. Nothing matters but himself and his money, and he would be a fool to criticize the man who could approve the biggest deal of his life,” Schiff said.

The conversation then moved to talk about the GOP as a whole dealing with Russia, and Schiff gave a little “good news,” saying, “We passed a massive bill to support Ukraine, militarily, economically, with humanitarian aid, on a very bipartisan basis.” He said that there are many people in Congress who are doing their own propaganda peddling regarding Russia, but that there are plenty of people who wanted to push back against the invasion.

Finally, the talk moved to Jan. 6. Schiff said that of the whole GOP contingent of the House, only Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., stood up against the insurrection and were censured for having done so.

He criticized those who he said have embraced efforts to tear down democracy. “They have embraced The Big Lie,” Schiff said, in response. “If you can persuade people that elections are rigged and fraudulent when they lose, then what is left but violence?”

As to criticism of the Democratic response to the event, Schiff says that the Jan. 6 committee is doing everything it can to force accountability, deposing hundreds of people in relation to the incident and litigating to get the documents it needs, in what will culminate in public trials “within the next couple months.”

He did, however, express concern that the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, wasn’t pursuing justice with the same fervor as Congress, saying, “There is evidence of potential criminal activity, which the Justice Department does not appear to be investigating, because some of that goes to the former president himself.”