President Trump went on a Twitter tear Monday morning, blasting out a string of tweets, including one in which he suggested Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) should be arrested for treason.
“Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people. It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?” Trump wrote.
Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people. It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2019
Schiff, who serves as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, led a hearing last week that featured testimony from acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire. Midway through his opening statement, the California Democrat delivered what he said was a summation of what transpired in a July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“What happened on the call?” the Califronia Democrat said. “Zelensky begins by ingratiating himself, and he tries to enlist the support of the president. He expresses his interest in meeting the president and says his country wants to acquire more weapons to defend itself. And what is the president’s response? Well, it reads like a classic organized crime shakedown. Shorn of its rambling character and in not so many words, this is the essence of what the president communicates.”
Schiff then “quoted” Trump.
“‘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. 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, 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. He’s got the whole weight of the American law enforcement behind him. And I’m going to put you in touch with Rudy — you’re going to love him, trust me. You know what I’m asking, and 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.’
“This is in sum and character what the president was trying to communicate with the president of Ukraine. It would be funny if it wasn’t such a graphic betrayal of the president’s oath of office,” Schiff said.
A Republican congressman on Friday called on colleagues to punish Schiff for claiming Trump said things he never said. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said impeachment of a president is a serious matter, adding “it is therefore inexcusable to toy with the process and mislead the American public with such a statement.”
Biggs is calling for the House to censure Schiff. His resolution says in part:
“Whereas, instead of quoting directly from the available transcript, Chairman Schiff manufactured a false retelling of the conversation between President Trump and President Zelensky; Whereas, this egregiously false and fabricated retelling had no relationship to the call itself; Whereas, these actions of Chairman Schiff misled the American people, bring disrepute upon the House of Representatives, and make a mockery of the impeachment process, one of this chamber’s most solemn constitutional duties.”
On Sunday, Trump tweeted: “Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called ‘Whistleblower,’ represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way. Then Schiff made up what I actually said by lying to Congress …”
“His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States. I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason,” he added.