After being slammed by Republicans during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) admitted that he had misquoted the transcript from the phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and conceded that that was “not okay.”
During his opening statement at the hearing with acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire examining the declassified whistleblower complaint against the president, Schiff described the call as a “classic organized crime shake down” and proceeded to read fabricated quotes from the text.
“In essence, what the President Trump communicates is this: We’ve been very good to your country,” Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said.
“Very good. No other country has done as much as we have. But you know what, I don’t see much reciprocity here. You know what I mean? I hear what you want. I have a favor I want from you though.”
Democrat Adam Schiff is blatantly fabricating quotes from the transcript of Trump's Ukraine phone call pic.twitter.com/rlFfQHmTNZ
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 26, 2019
As part of their messaging strategy, Democrats have been describing the transcript from the cordial call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as reminiscent of a mafia shakedown.
As questioning of Maguire proceeded, Rep Mike Turner (R-OH) called out Schiff for making up quotes from the phone call.
“While the chairman was speaking, I actually had someone text me [to ask] ‘is he just making this up?'” Turner said. “And yes, he was because sometimes fiction is better than the actual words of the text.”
Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) slams Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for blatantly fabricating quotes from Trump's Ukraine phone call: “Sometimes fiction is better than the actual words of text.” pic.twitter.com/kaiVQ9neF4
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 26, 2019
“It is disturbing and outrageous that Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff opens up a hearing of this importance with improvised fake dialogue between President Trump and President Zelenskyy,” tweeted Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY). “We should focus on the facts.”
Matt Wolking, the director of Communications for the Trump 2020 campaign, tweeted: “The president released the full transcript of his phone call yesterday. It showed nothing inappropriate, despite false media reports to the contrary. Adam Schiff couldn’t quote from the real transcript, so in his opening statement today he literally made up a fake conversation.”
In response to Turner’s criticism, Schiff conceded that his mischaracterization of the transcript was “not okay.”
“My summary of the president’s call was meant to be at least part in parody,” Schiff said in his own defense. “The fact that that’s not clear is a separate problem in and of itself. Of course, the president never said, ‘If you don’t understand me, I’m going to say it seven more times.’ My point is that’s the message that the Ukraine president was receiving, in not so many words.”
Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff (CA) admits that his blatant fabrication of quotes from Trump's Ukraine call was "wrong" after he got called out
Schiff claims it was a "parody"
Impeachment is a politically polarizing event and Schiff thinks it's just a big joke
Absolutely unreal pic.twitter.com/YqcQscCKYt
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 26, 2019
The president responded to Schiff with a typically Trumpian tweet:
Adam Schiff has zero credibility. Another fantasy to hurt the Republican Party!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2019