House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced Wednesday that he has signed a resolution to censure House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) for performing a fabricated conversation between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a recent hearing.
“Chairman Adam Schiff has been lying to the American people for years. Now he is so desperate to damage the president that he literally made up a false version of a phone call,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter. “Enough is enough. I have signed a resolution to censure Schiff in the House of Representatives.”
On Friday, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) introduced a motion to condemn and censure Schiff for performing the fake conversation, saying in a statement that the stunt was “inexcusable” to “mislead the American public with such a statement.”
Although the White House last week released a transcript of the Trump-Zelensky call, Schiff made-up his own transcript that he read ahead of the testimony of acting DNI chief Joseph Maguire in which he accused the president of engaging in quid pro quo with the intent of exchanging U.S. military aid to Ukraine for an investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President and 2020 White House hopeful Joe Biden.
The conversation prompted a partisan CIA officer to file a so-called “whistleblower” complaint — filed with secondhand information and several inaccuracies — and motivated House Democrats to unveil a formal impeachment inquiry.
President Trump has repeatedly lambasted Schiff’s performance and has demanded that he immediately resign from Congress.
“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,” President Trump tweeted,
“HE WAS DESPERATE AND HE GOT CAUGHT,” the president added.
“Adam Schiff therefore lied to Congress and attempted to defraud the American Public,” he added. “He has been doing this for two years. I am calling for him to immediately resign from Congress based on this fraud!”
On Tuesday, President Trump accused House Democrats of attempting to conduct a “coup,” to oust him from office.
“As I learn more and more each day, I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP, intended to take away the Power of the People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!” he wrote.