I was on the Senate floor this evening for the #SchiffShow road show & it was hard to keep up with all of the spin, misleading & outright lies.
Is the media ready to fact check Schiff on any of this or is his nonsense just the media's new Talking Points to blindly adopt?
Schiff Claim #1: He blocked GOP questions of witnesses in the House, bc we were asking "Who is the whistleblower, because we want to punish him?"
FACT: If you read through all of the transcripts, you will not find that question asked once.
Schiff Claim #2: 3 of the witnesses at the public Intel Committee hearings were there, because they were on the GOP witness list.
FACT: These were the only 3 witnesses requested by the GOP AND the Dems. They were ALL previously called only by Schiff during the closed door depos.
Schiff Claim #3: Republicans are not telling the truth when they were saying that there wasn't a vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry.
FACT: Republicans were calling for the vote when there had not yet been a vote. LATER, the Dems had one...weeks into the rushed inquiry.
Schiff Claim #4: The 1st hand witness testimony of the President telling Amb Sondland he doesn't want a quid pro quo should be used as evidence that there was a quid pro quo.
FACT: The US public is not as dumb as Adam Schiff believes, hopes and prays they are.
Schiff Claim #5: POTUS didn't exert exec privilege during the closed door depos & public Intel hearings bc he would have had to produce docs.
FACT: POTUS' counsel wasn't even allowed through the front door of the closed door depos & public Intel hearings to say or do anything.
Schiff Claim #6: Pres Zelensky & other top Ukraine officials were lying when they said POTUS didn't pressure them.
FACT: That's a disgusting assertion that Zelensky & his top aides are all liars. Their 1st hand accounts should not be rejected/ignored like Schiff is demanding.
Schiff Claim #6: There was no evidence that the President was concerned about "burden sharing".
FACT: OMB's Mark Sandy testified that the reason he was told why the President placed a hold on aid to Ukraine was that he was concerned about other countries paying their fair share.
Schiff Claim #7: POTUS was permitted to have his Counsel present during the House proceedings.
FACT: His Counsel was blocked from the closed door depos & open Intel hearings. They weren't allowed in the door until the VERY END AFTER Pelosi announced the House would impeach.
Schiff Claim #8: Bill Clinton was impeached after lying about a sexual act.
FACT: Bill Clinton was impeached after lying about a sexual act in the Oval Office with a young intern who worked for him. Schiff & the Dems shouldn't be minimizing or whitewashing what happened.
Schiff Claim #9: "Expediency" should not impact the timeline for impeachment.
FACT: Really? After the House rammed through an impeachment because it had to be done by Christmas at any cost, Schiff is going to lecture the Senate on expediency?!?
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At no point of the House impeachment inquiry did Schiff ever subpoena Bolton.
That was Schiff's play call to declare himself ready for trial when he clearly wasn't.
Now, he's complaining in the Senate about the many reasons why he can't prove his case.
That's on him.
When Judge Leon offered an expedited schedule to settle the Exec v Leg branch subpoena issue in Dec/Jan using the Kupperman subpoena, Schiff lost interest, withdrew the subpoena & filed a MOTION TO DISMISS!
He was sprinting to impeachment & fell on his face.
That's on him.
The lies, leaks, witness coaching, lack of fairness, bad motives, and other forms of prosecutorial misconduct by Schiff resulted in a corrupted, rigged process. It's not the Senate's job to fix the mess that Schiff created.
NO sympathy for the Dems. They never even sent a subpoena to Bolton. Judge Leon w/the Kupperman subpoena agreed to an expedited schedule to resolve the Exec vs. Leg subpoena issue in the Dec/Jan time frame. Schiff lost interest, withdrew the subpoena & filed a motion to dismiss.
The Dems proceeded w/ no subpoena to Bolton, bc of a rush to impeach POTUS by xmas & bc they might lose in court, undermining the case for Obstruction. They declared they were ready for trial w/evidence they called overwhelming, uncontested, indisputable & proof beyond a doubt.
Want to open that door? Then it's time for Hunter Biden, the whistleblower & other GOP witnesses Schiff blocked during his Soviet style show trial in the House. Remember that? Mr. "Fairness" was prosecutor, judge, jury & witness coach corruptly rigging this from the get go.
Also, the Clinton impeachment reso was written & passed in a bipartisan manner. This is a stark contrast to yesterday’s “impeachment inquiry” reso dropped 24 hrs before being voted on & the only bipartisan vote it received was AGAINST it.
Perhaps it’s because this new resolution does not ensure:
Minority subpoena power;
Release of the transcripts;
Equal staffing between parties;
Counsel for the President and the ability for them to question witnesses and present evidence.
In fact, all of these decisions are left to Schiff who – under this partisan reso – has the power to veto whatever he wants. He already has the authority to release the transcripts & ensure due process, which he’s not doing. What makes us think he’s going to change going forward?
Adam Schiff says his impeachment inquiry is analogous to a grand jury investigation. Putting aside his cherry picked leaking & outright lying, I’ve never seen a grand jury investigation where the prosecutor was also the judge and the jury.
When/If the transcripts ever get released, check out how he ridiculously leads witnesses. Too bad the stenographer won’t be adding “Schiff makes sad face” to the transcript every time that tactic has backfired on him during these depositions.
Time to bring in the whistleblower and all of his anonymous sources who supposedly have first hand information to share.
I’ve got some questions to ask and holes to shine a bright light into.
Amb Volker was VERY clear yesterday in his testimony that it is UNTRUE Pres Trump demanded a quid pro quo of Pres Zelensky that US aid was contingent upon an investigation by Ukraine into the Bidens: 1) Pres Zelensky had no knowledge aid was on hold at the time of the call.
2) In the readouts Amb Volker received of the call from not only the US gov't, but also the Ukraine gov't, there was no mention of aid being on hold or a quid pro quo. 3) When Amb Volker met w/Pres Zelensky on 7/26, there was no mention of aid on hold or a quid pro quo.
4) Amb Volker was in direct contact w Pres Zelensky & his team in the weeks to follow & they didn't mention anything to him about a hold on aid. It was until after the @politico story that they brought it up. 5) The aid was getting released regardless of any corruption inv.