Adam Schiff Reads Fiction Version of Trump Phone Call

Washington (CNN)In a tweet on Fri morning, President Donald Trump called for the resignation of Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, equally he has also done in the past.

"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, merely he completely changed the words to make information technology audio horrible, and me sound guilty. HE WAS DESPERATE AND HE GOT CAUGHT," Trump wrote. "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!"

We can't endorse Trump's merits that Schiff "lied," since Schiff introduced his comments at Thursday's committee hearing by maxim he would be outlining "the essence of what the president communicates," not providing "the exact transcribed version of the telephone call." And it's of import to annotation that nosotros do not even have an "exact transcribed version" of the call -- the rough transcript released by the White House cautions explicitly that it is "not a verbatim transcript."

Even so, Schiff's remarks did make it easy for viewers to get dislocated. He did not make clear which words he was taking directly from Trump's comments in the crude transcript, which words were his own analysis, and which words were meant to be the comedic "parody" he after said he was intending.

At some points, Schiff's words strayed quite far from what the rough transcript showed Trump saying.

Given Schiff'due south prominent office at the high-profile Thursday hearing and in the Democrats' overall opposition to Trump every bit the party makes an impeachment button, information technology's worth taking a deep dive into what happened here.

What Schiff said about the call

Let's go quote by quote through the relevant part of Schiff's argument.

Schiff: "President Zelensky, eager to establish himself at domicile as the friend of the president of the most powerful nation on earth, had at least 2 objectives: go a coming together with the president and get more armed forces help. And so what happened on that phone call? Zelensky begins past ingratiating himself, and he tries to enlist the support of the president. He expresses his interest in meeting with the president, and says his state wants to larn more weapons from the states to defend itself."

Analysis: This is an accurate summary. Zelensky complimented Trump, saying he had used "quite a few of your skills and knowledge" in his winning election campaign; urged Trump to "phone call me more than often" and (afterwards in the call) to visit Ukraine; and said Ukraine is "almost ready" to purchase more Javelin anti-tank missiles from the United States.

Schiff: "And what is the President'southward response? Well, it reads like a classic organized crime shakedown."

Analysis: This is a subjective matter of stance.

Schiff: "Shorn of its rambling grapheme and in not so many words, this is the essence of what the President communicates. We've been very expert to your country. Very expert. No other country has washed every bit much as nosotros accept. But you know what? I don't see much reciprocity here."

Analysis: Schiff shifted here from his own voice to the vocalization of Trump. But this is a roughly accurate summary of what Trump said, though Schiff used slightly different words.

Trump said in the call, "I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time. Much more than the European countries are doing and they should be helping you lot more they are." Trump then said of the US-Ukraine relationship: "I wouldn't say that it's reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not skilful but the Usa has been very very skilful to Ukraine."

Schiff: "I hear what you want. I have a favor I want from yous, though. And I'm going to say this only vii times, so you ameliorate heed proficient. I want you to brand up clay on my political opponent. Understand? Lots of it, on this and on that."

Analysis: Hither's where Schiff veered quite a distance from what the rough transcript says.

Trump did not repeat a need related to a political opponent "vii times," according to the crude transcript. He told Zelensky iii times that he would go his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to phone call Zelensky. He twice mentioned Biden's attempt to get a Ukrainian prosecutor fired, maxim this is what he wanted Zelensky to look into. (The prosecutor was widely criticized for failing to prosecute corruption, and there is no show of Biden wrongdoing.

Trump said in the call, "I would like you lot to do us a favor though," nearly identical to Schiff's version. But the next thing Trump said was not well-nigh Biden -- information technology was that he wanted Zelensky to look into something related to cybersecurity company CrowdStrike and "the server," mayhap referring to Democratic National Commission computers hacked past Russian federation in 2016.

Trump was alluding to a conspiracy theory; we explain here.

Trump besides did not tell Zelensky to "brand upwardly clay" on Biden. Rather, Trump said in the phone call: "There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to discover out nigh that and then whatever you can do with the Chaser General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it...It sounds horrible to me."

Equally we take previously noted, Trump was himself inaccurate here: Biden has not boasted about having "stopped the prosecution" of a Ukrainian case in which his son Hunter Biden had an involvement.

But Trump asked Zelensky in the call to "look into" his groundless claim about Biden, non to make things up.

Schiff's subtext

Schiff's team argues that at that place was a subtext hither -- that asking Zelensky to dig into Biden was finer asking him to "make upwards clay," since there is not actual Biden wrongdoing to be constitute.

Schiff: "I'grand going to put y'all in touch with people, and not only any people. I'1000 going to put you in touch with the attorney general of the Us, my attorney full general, Beak Barr. He'south got the whole weight of the American law enforcement behind him. And I'chiliad going to put you in touch with Rudy."

Analysis: Trump did tell Zelensky that he would take Giuliani and the attorney general, William Barr, call him.

Trump did not tell Zelensky that Barr has "the whole weight of the American constabulary enforcement backside him," merely this is obviously true of the attorney full general.

Schiff: "You're going to love him (Giuliani). Trust me. You know what I'k asking? And so I'm merely going to say this a few more times in a few more means. And by the way, don't telephone call me again. I'll call you when you've washed what I asked."

Analysis: Trump did not tell Zelensky not to call him again until he had washed what Trump asked, nor did he say "y'all know what I'm request?" The call ended on a positive notation, with Trump saying of Zelensky'southward asking for a visit to Ukraine, "Okay, we can work that out," and so calculation, "I wait forwards to seeing you lot in Washington and maybe in Poland considering I call up nosotros are going to be there at that fourth dimension."

The whistleblower complaint alleges that Trump instructed Vice President Mike Pence to call off a planned trip to Ukraine, and alleges that it had been "fabricated clear" to US officials that "the President did not desire to meet with Mr. Zelensky until he saw how Zelensky 'chose to act' in office."

Schiff: "This is in sum and character what the president was trying to communicate with the president of Ukraine. Information technology would be funny if it wasn't such a graphic betrayal of the President's adjuration of office. Simply as it does represent a real betrayal, in that location'due south nothing the president says here that is in America's interest subsequently all."

Analysis: This concluding quote may take further dislocated viewers. Schiff suggested here that he had just provided listeners with what "the president says," though he had added in things that Trump did non actually say.

A 'parody'?

After in the hearing, Republican Rep. Mike Turner criticized Schiff's comments, saying that "sometimes fiction is better than the actual words or the text."

"Only luckily the American public are smart," Turner said. "They take the transcript. They've read the chat. They know when someone's only making it up."

Schiff responded by saying that his summary of Trump's call was "meant to be at least part in parody," a merits Trump's campaign also criticized. Schiff had non clearly distinguished the serious parts of his analysis from the supposed "parody."

Schiff's mail service-hearing response

Asked by CNN'due south Wolf Blitzer on Thursday whether he regretted saying what he did, Schiff said, "No, I call up anybody understood -- and my GOP colleagues may feign otherwise. Merely when I said, suggested, that information technology was as if the President said, 'Listen carefully, considering I'g only gonna tell you vii more than times' -- that I was mocking the President'due south conduct."

Schiff continued to stand by the comments on Friday forenoon.

"It was entirely clear in context of Chairman Schiff's opening statement that he was non misleading anyone. He began that portion of his statement past maxim, 'In essence, what the President Trump communicates is this,' and and then proceeded to draw, accurately, the message the President communicated on the call," Schiff spokesman Patrick Boland said in an e-mail.

Boland added: "When his Republican colleagues suggested they had been dislocated near that portion, he clarified further that he was not reading the transcript. The suggestions that he was misleading gives credence to the absurd attacks from the President and his allies in their desperate effort to distract from their wrongdoing."

starkdereter.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/fact-check-adam-schiff-trumps-ukraine-call/index.html

Share this post