Former congressman Trey Gowdy blasted California Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Thursday over the Democrat’s pathetic “parody” of President Donald Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine.
Schiff is facing calls to resign from the White House and its allies after he read aloud an entirely fictitious, improvised version of what Trump told Ukraine’s president at a Thursday congressional hearing. For his part, Gowdy blasted Schiff in an appearance on Fox News for “making stuff up” to implicate Trump in an alleged bribe that Democrats say justifies impeaching the president.
Fabricating evidence?
Throughout the Russia hoax and its Ukrainian sequel, few Democrats have shown as little shame as Schiff in accusing Trump of crimes without evidence. Schiff infamously claimed that he had certain evidence of Russian collusion even after Special Counsel Robert Mueller disproved that allegation, and now, he is once again playing a central role in a partisan coup against the president.
At a congressional hearing Thursday, Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire was called to defend his handling of the “whistleblower” complaint accusing Trump of soliciting election help from the Ukrainians. In a now-released phone call transcript, Trump asked Ukraine’s president to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, but made no mention of a quid pro quo or military aid, as Democrats had alleged.
But Schiff, as is his wont, claimed that the “essence” of what Trump communicated was much more incriminating. Reading from what he later explained was “in part” a “parody” of Trump’s actual remarks on the call, Schiff “quoted” the president:
I have a favor I want from you [Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky], though, and I’m [going to] say this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand? Lots of it, on this and on that. I’m going to put you in touch with people — and not just any people, I’m going to put you in touch with the attorney general of the United States, my attorney general, Bill Barr… And I’m [going to] put you in touch with Rudy [Giuliani], you’re going to love him, trust me.
Of course, Schiff’s version is completely unsubtle and bears no resemblance to actual facts. Gowdy told Fox that Schiff is reprising the shameful role he played in the Russia hoax, only with more audacity: this time, he’s simply making up evidence instead of claiming it’s out there somewhere.
“This is the same show; they said he had evidence of collusion. He’s not making that mistake this time,” Gowdy said on Fox. “He’s just [going to] make it up and he made it up on national television.”
Gowdy added that Schiff has “one of the worst senses of humor of anyone I’ve ever met” so he “doesn’t need to try parody.” The former Republican lawmaker went on to applaud Democrats who are criticizing Schiff and said he’d also “criticize a Republican for making stuff up in something as serious as this hearing.”
Schiff’s desperate performance even grabbed the attention of President Trump, who demanded that “liddle’ Adam Schiff” resign in a series of tweets filled with classic Trumpian idiosyncrasy.
…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
Shady circumstances
Meanwhile, some have drawn attention to the strange fact that Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, had made very similar complaints to those of the whistleblower — apparently before the whistleblower’s complaint had surfaced. Former intelligence official Fred Fleitz floated the theory Thursday that the whistleblower, now reported to be a highly placed CIA officer, was likely coordinating with Schiff’s staff.
Fleitz points to the fact that the complaint is unusually “polished” and appears to have been written by attorneys, not intelligence officials. Moreover, Trump’s phone call was not an intelligence matter, he says.
“Adam Schiff was talking and tweeting about the president meddling in Ukraine and leveraging aid to Ukraine to hurt the Bidens in August before this appeared, and lo and behold. This complaint happens to be filed so it will hit his committee,” Fleitz said, according to the New York Post. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
Now, Schiff is warning that impeachment “hearings” could begin as soon as next week. Sadly, it looks like the Russia clown show has a new sequel, with Schiff again in a starring role.
No comments: