Schiff quick to cut off GOP Rep when she attempts to enter his ‘parody’ transcript of Trump-Ukraine call

Rep. Adam Schiff instantly shut down an attempt by a Republican congresswoman to refer to his much-criticized parody of President Trump’s July phone call with the Ukrainian president.

The House Intelligence Committee chairman cut off Rep. Elise Stefanik during the public hearing in the House impeachment inquiry on Wednesday after she pointed out how he “mischaracterized” the call.

“I would like to enter into the record the transcript from the July 25 call between President Trump and President Zelensky,” the New York lawmaker said. “You yourself, Mr. Chairman, have mischaracterized the call.”

“The gentlewoman will suspend,” Schiff said almost immediately. “By unanimous consent, I’d be happy to enter the record into the record.”

The California Democrat came under heavy fire for his interpretive reading of the president’s call with Zelensky, as he embellished the transcript rather than just directly read from it at a hearing in September which included testimony from Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.

“I have a favor I want from you,” Schiff said, appearing to read from a paper but not quoting the transcript of the call which was released by the White House. “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, on this and on that.”

Stefanik threw some shade at Schiff at the time, noting his version of the call as she began to read the complaint from the whistleblower which sparked the impeachment inquiry.

“On page one – and I’m not going to improvise for parody purposes, like the chairman of this committee did,” Stefanik said. “I’m going to quote it directly.”

Schiff attempted to defend himself from the backlash to his parody.

“My summary of the president’s call was meant to be at least, part, in parody,” Schiff said in response to criticism. “The fact that that’s not clear is a separate problem in and of itself. Of course, the president never said, ‘If you don’t understand me I’m going to say it seven more times’. My point is, that’s the message that the Ukraine president was receiving in not so many words.”

The committee chairman and Stefanik locked horns at the outset of Wednesday’s first public impeachment hearing as the New York congresswoman questioned whether Schiff would be preventing witnesses from answering certain questions as he had done in previous closed-door testimonies.

“Mr. Chairman, will you be prohibiting witnesses from answering questions as you have in the closed-door depositions?” Stefanik asked before opening statements from the first witnesses.

Schiff responded by giving the lawmaker a condescending reminder of the hearings she did not attend.

Stefanik seems unfazed by the attacks from the left and addressed many of her critics directly on Twitter where a controversy had erupted after ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd appeared to make a sexist remark about the lawmaker.

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Frieda Powers

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