Just as soon as House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff gaveled in the second day of public hearings into the impeachment inquiry against President Trump, Trump released the transcript of his first phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky.
The chairman was frustrated, to say the least, by the president's timing.
"We would ask the president to stop obstructing the impeachment inquiry," Schiff said.
"First of all, I'm grateful the president has released the call record," he continued. "I would now ask the president to release the thousands of other records he has instructed the State Department not to release."
That includes Ambassador Bill Taylor's notes, George Kent's memo, etc. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) retorted that he's still waiting for Schiff to release all those deposition transcriptions.
Unlike Schiff, ranking member Devin Nunes (R-CA) welcomed Trump's new document and took the opportunity to read a few excerpts.
The second transcript helps upend some recycled Democratic narratives. In that first conversation with Zelensky, Trump invited the new president to visit the White House, proving that he was not trying to dangle a meeting as leverage to get Zelensky to investigate its 2016 election meddling. Secondly, nowhere in that transcript will you find reference to the Bidens.
This tidbit won't help the Democrats' case either.
Here's a key detail:
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) November 15, 2019
In her deposition, Yovanovitch and Schiff speculated that President Trump and President Zelensky had discussed her on this call and "bash[ed]" her
But as the transcript shows, Yovanovitch was not discussed pic.twitter.com/uYNWBrqJnS
As expected, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) again asked Schiff if he planned to use his closed door tactics and prevent the witness from answering some of the Republicans' inquiries. She got her answer after Schiff told her that she and Rep. Jordan were "not recognized."
"We now know you plan to interrupt us throughout this hearing," Stefanik concluded.
