“Now as far as the administration goes, if they don’t want to send Ambassador Sondland here because this is a kangaroo court, because there has not been a vote to launch an impeachment inquiry, because the minority does not have any rights for subpoenas, because the President doesn’t have the right to have counsel present, to ask questions, for subpoena power, to present evidence … this entire thing is a political charade.”

Washington, D.C. –  Today, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Ranking Member on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, refuted false claims made by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) about the Democrats’ impeachment probe.

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On “quid pro quo”:

“[Volker] was in this room for several hours and during several hours of testimony, he talked about how President Zelensky had no idea that there was a hold on aid at the time of the July 25th call. The next day Ambassador Volker met with President Zelensky, and in that meeting there is no reference to a quid pro quo or President Zelensky having any idea that there was a hold on aid. Or over the course of Ambassador Volker’s next several weeks engaging with Ukraine, Ukraine makes no reference to there being a hold on aid or there being a quid pro quo.

 

On Republicans’ commitment to bring transparency to Democrats’ closed-door process and ensure the American people receive the facts:

“If anyone is going to testify behind those closed doors, we’re going to make sure that we’re there to ensure that the other 99 percent of this story is being told because guess what? If we weren’t there last Thursday, you would have no idea of everything that Ambassador Volker said to obliterate Adam Schiff’s fairytale quid pro quo charge. You would have no idea, so we’re here… ‘What did you hear last Thursday that we don’t yet know about?’ Adam Schiff won’t answer it, but he should. He should release the transcript.”

 

On Adam Schiff’s misrepresentation of Volker’s testimony:

“When Adam Schiff said, for example, that President Trump was asking President Zelensky to manufacture dirt on the Bidens, you know what Ambassador Volker testified to? That was absolutely untrue. Now that’s what we would call an inconvenient fact for the narrative. You know what else Adam Schiff has been saying to you and the American public that was not true? That he had no contact with the whistleblower—he’d like to, but he didn’t have any contact. He lied. You know what else he lied about? When he gave his opening statement in front of the Acting Director of National Intelligence in front of the world as far as what the transcribed interview said.”

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