In the absolutely bonkers Oval Office press briefing yesterday — you know, the one where the President of Finland had to slap away Trump’s hand from his leg, Trump freaked out on reporters for asking about Joe Biden, and reporters went back to Finland describing a “circus” and an “alternate reality” in Trump’s White House — there was almost too much news to cover anything adequately.
And because Trump’s antics were so wide-ranging and manic, it feels like something pretty big got overlooked as the President ranted and raved: At one point he described what he thought it must have looked like in the room with Nancy Pelosi when she read the transcript of his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky:
#WATCH: Trump fabricates a conversation he falsely claims Pelosi had w/ Dems when she saw the call summary.
“When [Pelosi] saw [the summary] I heard she went crazy! She said ‘We can’t impeach him on this conversation! That’s a great conversation!’ She went by the Whistleblower.” pic.twitter.com/RMYxWWTJyQ
— Cyrus Toulabi (@CyrusToulabi) October 2, 2019
The problem is, whether he actually did “hear” that Nancy said that or not (he didn’t), Trump literally says “She said” in his remarks, meaning he was attributing those words to her. She never said those words. That “FAKE & terrible statement” was made up, you might say.
Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people. It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2019
Oh. You don’t say.
His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States. I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 29, 2019
Oh, fraud too? Well, this is getting interesting. By his own standards, Trump should be questioned for fraud and treason for making up a statement by Nancy Pelosi and, worse than just saying it to Congress, he said it live on camera to everyone in the world with a television.
In fact, he made up that statement from Nancy immediately after reminding reporters what he thought of Schiff’s actions. This is from the SAME PRESS BRIEFING:
#FTR: Trump fabricated a conversation that he claims Pelosi had with fellow Democrats…
…after repeatedly attacking Adam Schiff for “making up the words of the President” during the hearing last week.
Trump said it should be criminal, treasonous, and require his resignation. pic.twitter.com/dAenJCcych
— Cyrus Toulabi (@CyrusToulabi) October 2, 2019
Set aside for a moment the fact that in that video he calls the transcript “word for word” even though the White House described it as basically the opposite of that when they released it. Trump’s insistence that the transcript is all that matters is way off the mark. All that REALLY matters is that he admitted to having asked a foreign leader to investigate a political rival, which is illegal.
I mean, unless he wants to really harp on this treason thing. I bet we could help him out there.
Featured image via screen capture
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