A new report on Tuesday night alleges that House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) appears to have “mischaracterized” evidence that was used in House Democrats’ impeachment investigation.
The problem stems from a letter that Schiff sent to House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) last week that summarizes “a trove of evidence from Lev Parnas, an indicted former associate of Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani,” Politico reported. “In one section of the letter, Schiff claims that Parnas ‘continued to try to arrange a meeting with President Zelensky,’ citing a specific text message exchange where Parnas tells Giuliani: ‘trying to get us mr Z.’ The remainder of the exchange — which was attached to Schiff’s letter — was redacted.”
Politico added, “But an unredacted version of the exchange shows that several days later, Parnas sent Giuliani a word document that appears to show notes from an interview with Mykola Zlochevsky, the founder of Burisma, followed by a text message to Giuliani that states: ‘mr Z answers my brother.’ That suggests Parnas was referring to Zlochevsky not Zelensky.”
Democrat officials did not dispute the suggestion that Schiff’s claim was false.
A Republican aide told Politico that the false claim was at best the result of sloppy work.
“The most charitable view of the situation is that [Schiff’s] staff committed the equivalent of Congressional malpractice by not looking more than an inch deep to determine the facts before foisting this erroneous information on his colleagues and the American public,” one senior GOP aide told Politico. “But given the selective redactions and contextual clues, it seems as though Chairman Schiff sought to portray an innocuous meeting with Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky as an insidious one with the President of Ukraine simply because both of their surnames start with the letter Z.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) responded to Schiff’s false statement by writing on Twitter: “Schiff’s sham impeachment is littered with mischaracterizations, falsehoods, & political desperation. The more Schiff speaks to the American people, the more the support for impeachment is obliterated in the court of public opinion.”
Schiff, who is Democrat impeachment manager for the Senate trial, was accused by GOP National Spokesperson Elizabeth Harrington of fabricating quotes while delivering remarks today.
Watch Schiff make up more fake dialogue
It was bad enough he made up the President's phone call in the House, now he's fabricating what the president of Ukraine said (no pressure) in the Senate
Democrats have no case, so they just make schiff up pic.twitter.com/R2nNJrCiZt
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) January 22, 2020
During the Intelligence Committee’s impeachment investigation, Schiff fabricated quotes from President Donald Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and was later forced to apologize for his dishonest characterization of Trump’s remarks.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) responded at the time by writing: “When you don’t have facts on your side some just make it up. The opening statement by their ring leader was #FullofSchiff. House Dems blatantly lying to justify their impeachment inquiry is horribly timed, poorly written and badly intentioned.”
When you don’t have facts on your side some just make it up. The opening statement by their ring leader was #FullofSchiff. House Dems blatantly lying to justify their impeachment inquiry is horribly timed, poorly written and badly intentioned.
— Lee Zeldin (@LeeMZeldin) September 26, 2019
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) responded: “We now have both the transcript and the complaint. Anyone who reads them will see they prove what we already knew: @RepAdamSchiff and his cronies will peddle conspiracy theories and distort the truth to attack our President. It’s wrong.”
We now have both the transcript and the complaint.
Anyone who reads them will see they prove what we already knew: @RepAdamSchiff and his cronies will peddle conspiracy theories and distort the truth to attack our President.
It’s wrong.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) September 26, 2019
Stefanik responded: “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. We should focus on the facts.”
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. We should focus on the facts.
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) September 26, 2019
Trump responded: “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!”
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
This report has been updated to include additional information.