President Donald Trump is calling for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff to resign following a hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday in which Schiff read his own fabricated conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a fake narrative he later defended as “parody.”
"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," Trump tweeted early Friday morning. "He was supposedly reading the exact transcribed version of the call, but he completely changed the words to make it sound horrible, an 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!"
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, an 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
In his opening statements before questioning Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, Schiff made up an entire dialogue between Trump and Zelensky, ignoring what was actually contained within the transcript or the whistleblower’s complaint.
“We’ve been very good to your country. Very good,” Schiff said, paraphrasing what he believes to be Trump’s conversation with Zelensky. “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,” he continued.
“On this and on that. I’m gonna put you in touch with people and not just any people,” Schiff went on. “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.
“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 concluded his fabricated conversation.
Except that nowhere in the actual transcript did Trump tell Zelensky that he “[didn’t] see much reciprocity” from Ukraine, nor did Trump ask the Ukrainian president to “make up dirt” on former Vice President Joe Biden. Democrats have used both the transcript of the phone call and the whistleblower complaint to call for Trump's removal from office and have announced an official impeachment inquiry over what they allege was an illegal abuse of power and an attempt at election tampering.