Roll Call reports:
Donald Trump on Friday called for House Intelligence Chairman Adam B. Schiff to resign over his portrayal of Trump’s message to Ukraine’s president in their phone call that the president called an attempt to “defraud the American public.”
During a Thursday hearing about an intelligence community whistleblower’s complaint about that call and White House aides’ coordinated effort to “lock down” the records, Schiff kicked off the hearing by summarizing Trump’s request of Zelenskiy, saying what he was about to recount was “the essence of what the president communicates.”
He offered other qualifiers at the end of his recounting, which featured more direct and pointed language than the president used in the White House’s version of events. In Republican circles and in conservative media, Schiff is being vilified for embellishing what Trump really said — and the president joined that chorus Friday morning.
Schiff noted yesterday that he was “paraphrasing” the transcript as he related Trump’s words to deliver their actual meaning. The cultists are very unhappy at how mafia-like Trump’s message to Ukraine comes across.
Rep. Adam Schiff fraudulently read to Congress, with millions of people watching, a version of my conversation with the President of Ukraine that doesn’t exist. He was supposedly reading the exact transcribed version of the call, but he completely changed the words to make it…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2019
…sound horrible, and me sound guilty. HE WAS DESPERATE AND HE GOT CAUGHT. Adam Schiff therefore lied to Congress and attempted to defraud the American Public. He has been doing this for two years. I am calling for him to immediately resign from Congress based on this fraud!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2019
“IT WAS A PERFECT CONVERSATION WITH UKRAINE PRESIDENT!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2019
Rep. Adam Schiff totally made up my conversation with Ukraine President and read it to Congress and Millions. He must resign and be investigated. He has been doing this for two years. He is a sick man!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2019
The Democrats are now to be known as the DO NOTHING PARTY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2019