On Monday the House of Representatives tabled a vote to censure Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. It was a party line vote, 218-185. Schiff gloated about the result on Twitter and suggested that Democrats will have the last laugh.
It will be said of House Republicans,
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) October 21, 2019
When they found they lacked the courage to confront the most dangerous and unethical president in American history,
They consoled themselves by attacking those who did.
Yet, as Republicans like Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) will tell you, their failure to censure does not prove Schiff's innocence. His work on the impeachment inquiry against President Trump has been one big, biased, secretive mission, Zeldin claimed on Fox News's "America's Newsroom."
The quid pro quo narrative the Democrats are using "has been obliterated" by the testimony he's heard during the inquiry, he told Fox News.
"There is nothing from anything that I've heard that you could possibly impeach the president of the United States for," Zeldin said.
The Republican did give Schiff some credit for his creative questioning. The chairman, Zeldin charged, "makes multiple leaps and assumptions" in his questions. It's "very leading."
For example, when Schiff had a former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Michael McKinley, in the hot seat, the chairman asked him to talk about how bad things were in Pompeo's State Department. McKinley was offended by the tone, so Schiff had to rephrase the question.
"It's disgusting," Zeldin said, adding that it's been a trend throughout all of the depositions.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) can also attest to Schiff's attempt to shut out Republicans during the process.
"We found out last night that Democrats will now not even allow Republicans to have a copy of the respective transcripts from each of the witnesses we’ve interviewed thus far," Jordan said on Tuesday. "And if in fact – no copies – we can’t make copies - we don’t get a copy."
During a congressional hearing Schiff also embellished parts of the phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky, which was the launch pad for the impeachment inquiry.
There are at least seven more witnesses expected to come forward and testify this week for the inquiry. Current acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor is currently testifying on Capitol Hill. Again, yes, behind closed doors.
Zeldin emphasized that there is not one fact Democrats can present to Congress to support impeachment.
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