House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) called out Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) for fabricating a phone call between President Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky during Wednesday’s impeachment hearing.
Nunes delivered a fiery opening statement bringing Schiff’s history of deception throughout the process to the forefront and highlighting his completely fabricated conversation between Trump and Zelensky, which he performed at a committee hearing in September. Nunes noted “they” – a reference to Schiff – “clearly found the real conversion to be insufficient for their impeachment narrative,” forcing them to make up a “new one.”
“At a prior hearing, Democrats on this committee read out a purely fictitious rendition of the president’s phone call with president Zelensky,” Nunes stated. “They clearly found the real conversion to be insufficient for their impeachment narrative, so they just made up a new one.”
During the September committee hearing, Schiff read off his own version of Trump’s conversation.
“We’ve been very good to your country. Very good. No other country has done as much as we have. But you know what? I don’t see much reciprocity here. I hear what you want. I have a favor I want from YOU though. And I’m going to say this only seven times so you better listen good,” Schiff said.
“I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand? Lots of it,” he continued.
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“On this and on that. I’m gonna put you in touch with people and not just any people,” he continued, affecting an accent meant to resemble Trump’s. “I’m going to put you with the attorney general of the United States, my attorney general Bill Barr. He’s got the whole weight of the American law enforcement behind him.”
“And I’m gonna put you in touch with Rudy, you’re gonna love him, trust me,” Schiff said, still avoiding any real quotations from the transcript. “You know what I’m asking, so I’m only going to say this a few more times, in a few more ways. And by the way don’t call me again. I’ll call you when you’ve done what I’ve asked.”
Schiff said of his made-up conversation, “This is in sum and character what the president was trying to communicate.”
Nunes also used his opening statement to remind the American people that Schiff’s staffers spoke to the “whistleblower” before the complaint was made.
“And most egregiously, the staff of Democrats on this committee had discussions with the whistleblower before his or her complaint was submitted to the Inspector General,” Nunes said.
“Republicans can’t get a full account of these contacts because democrats broke their promise to have the whistleblower testify to this committee. Democrats members hid these contacts from Republicans and then lied about them to the American people on national television,” he added.
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