Washington Examiner: House Democrats decide Schiff can lie and get away with it
Washington,
October 23, 2019
The following op-ed appeared at The Washington Examiner on October 23, 2019. We have three clear instances of Schiff lying. The first is when Schiff promised, on numerous occasions, that he had seen "ample evidence of Russian collusion." But after two years and spending $40 million of taxpayer money, special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation found no collusion between Russia and members of the Trump campaign. Schiff even dragged Mueller in front of his committee, grilling him about his investigation. Mueller merely pointed to his report that concluded there is no evidence of collusion. Schiff has no evidence of collusion. Otherwise, he would have produced it. The second lie is when Schiff said on national television that he and his committee had no prior contact with the whistleblower who filed a complaint about the phone call that launched the current impeachment inquiry. Even the Washington Post’s fact-checker called Schiff out on it, bestowing him with four “Pinocchios” — their highest condemnation for a lie. In reality, the whistleblower came to Schiff’s committee, and then he filed a complaint with the intelligence community inspector general. The third lie is the most egregious. Less than 48 hours after Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the House would open an impeachment inquiry, Schiff’s Intelligence Committee held its very first hearing about the contents of a call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During his opening remarks, Schiff fabricated a portion of the call. He claimed later it was a “parody,” but viewers that hadn’t read the transcript themselves wouldn’t know that. The real transcript of the call was actually very boring. There was nothing impeachable in it, and Schiff knew it, so he had to “revise” the transcript to make his case. The truth should speak for itself. The public deserves it. We don’t need Schiff’s spin and falsehoods. I strongly disagree with Pelosi’s decision to pursue impeachment. She started the impeachment inquiry based on a rumor from a partisan whistleblower with second-hand knowledge about something that happened in a phone call between President Trump and Zelensky. We now know what the whistleblower alleged is false, so we should get back to business as usual and pass legislation. But even the staunchest opponent of this president should at least admit that those leading the impeachment process should behave as trustworthy and non-partisan as possible. Impeachment is a weighty process. It could result in the removal of a duly elected president, the victor of a free and fair election. Democrats need to convince the public this impeachment is not just a partisan attack on a sitting president ahead of the 2020 election. By leaving Schiff installed as the head of this impeachment inquiry, they hurt their case. |