Thread by @AndrewFeinberg

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone is opening his defense of @realDonaldTrump with a blatant lie about "burden sharing."

Cipollone repeats Trump's false claim from 7/25 call that Germany, France, etc do not contribute to Ukraine defense. US contributed $204.4m, GER $189m

Cipollone's second whopper: Trump has a strong record on confronting Russia.

Don't just take my word for it when I say Pat Cipollone is lying. See for yourself.

factcheck.org/2019/09/trump-…

Cipollone accusing Democrats of having "hid evidence" from the Senate.

No, seriously. He said this.

Wow. White House Deputy Counsel Mike Purpura opening with another complete lie, showing the video from Adam Schiff's opening statement from a hearing with Acting DNI Joseph Maguire, which Purpura then falsely claimed was delivered during an impeachment hearing.

Purpura repeats Cipollone's lie about "burden sharing" and adds another, that Javelin missiles weren't sold during the previous administration was President Obama simply refused to.

In fact, Fiona Hill testified that the reason was Ukrainian forces weren't properly trained.

Purpura invokes a statement by retired General Keith Kellogg, @VP Pence's National Security Adviser which purports to refute testimony from LTC Vindman and others.

In their book #AVeryStableGenius, @PhilipRucker and @CarolLeonnig described Kellogg as “loyal to Trump above all."

@VP @PhilipRucker @CarolLeonnig Sekulow's argument so far appears to be that Trump is an innocent victim. He's told one lie in the first five minutes, that Mueller's investigation cost $32m. It made a profit for the government through seizing assets from Paul Manafort, etc.

@VP @PhilipRucker @CarolLeonnig So far nothing @JaySekulow has said has any relevance to the case put forth by @HouseDemocrats.

@VP @PhilipRucker @CarolLeonnig @JaySekulow @HouseDemocrats .@JaySekulow is arguing that @realDonaldTrump was justified in ignoring US intelligence agencies assessments of election interference because the @FBI played fast and loose with FISA applications. One has nothing to do with the other, neither has anything to do with this case.

@VP @PhilipRucker @CarolLeonnig @JaySekulow @HouseDemocrats @realDonaldTrump @FBI .@JaySekulow says it's wrong to argue that @realDonaldTrump is not concerned about corruption.

FACT: Just last week, Trump NEC director @larry_kudlow said the administration was looking at repealing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans bribing foreign governments.

@VP @PhilipRucker @CarolLeonnig @JaySekulow @HouseDemocrats @realDonaldTrump @FBI @larry_kudlow Pat Philbin falsely claims that House Rule X only gives authority to issue subpoenas for legislative purposes, therefore the subpoenas @RepAdamSchiff issued were invalid without a specific vote.

@VP @PhilipRucker @CarolLeonnig @JaySekulow @HouseDemocrats @realDonaldTrump @FBI @larry_kudlow @RepAdamSchiff Another astonishing lie from Philbin -- he says no impeachment investigation before @realDonaldTrump conducted depositions before public hearings.

IN FACT, during the Nixon impeachment, initial depositions were conducted BY STAFF ONLY with NO MEMBERS INVOLVED. cc: @JillWineBanks

@VP @PhilipRucker @CarolLeonnig @JaySekulow @HouseDemocrats @realDonaldTrump @FBI @larry_kudlow @RepAdamSchiff @JillWineBanks Philbin now referencing the ICIG's letter stating that the IC whistleblower may have had some political bias.

"Motivations, bias, reasons for wanting to bring this complaint could be relevant," he says.

He doesn't say how that makes anything the WB said any less true.

Philbin adds that there is something shady going on because the IC whistleblower, a career civil servant, worked with then-VP @JoeBiden on Ukraine policy.

The same whistleblower was detailed to the White House during the Trump administration and also worked on Ukraine policy.

@JoeBiden Philbin, still talking about the whistleblower and @RepAdamSchiff, plays a non-sequitur video clip of Schiff talking to @chucktodd about Russia matters.

@JoeBiden @RepAdamSchiff @chucktodd Cipollone is back to complain that Schiff didn't testify before the Judiciary Committee.