Schiff slammed for 'parody' of Trump call transcript
Reaction and analysis from former Schumer aide Chris Hahn and former independent counsel Ken Starr.
President Trump launched a fresh attack on prominent Democrats on Saturday, accusing leading impeachment proponents of stalling progress and acting like "savages."
"Can you imagine if these Do Nothing Democrat Savages, people like Nadler, Schiff, AOC Plus 3, and many more, had a Republican Party who would have done to Obama what the Do Nothings are doing to me. Oh well, maybe next time!" he tweeted.
He took aim specifically at House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and the "Squad" of progressive freshman congresswomen led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
The president's comments came as House Democrats continued investigating the Trump administration and pursued an official impeachment inquiry surrounding his July phone call with Ukraine's president. Trump had urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into corruption suspicions surrounding former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic party's frontrunner for challenging Trump in 2020.
INTEL CHIEF DEFENDS HANDLING OF TRUMP CALL COMPLAINT, SPARS WITH SCHIFF IN TENSE HEARING
On Thursday, Schiff pressed Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire on his decision to not to relay a whistleblower complaint about that call. Instead of sending the complaint to the inspector general, Maguire notified the White House.
Both Schiff and "Squad" members have painted the transcript of that call as damning evidence that Trump sought foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election.
On Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez appeared to poke fun at Trump's insult by retweeting a post likening Trump's "AOC Plus 3" label to a "remix."
"To be honest, it should really be @AyannaPressley plus 3 since she is *easily* the best singer out of all of us," she said, referring to the Massachusetts congresswoman.
Nadler also responded on Saturday, accusing Trump of trying to create a distraction from the Ukraine controversy.
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"Don’t let the President change the subject. He got caught soliciting a foreign leader for help with his campaign at the expense of U.S. national security. Again," he said.
Trump, on Wednesday, released a rough transcript of his call with Zelensky. Neither that transcript nor the whistleblower report contained an explicity quid pro quo offer of foreign aid for an investigation into Biden. But some Democrats have suggested the transcript clearly showed Trump seeking some kind of exchange with the Ukrainian government.