Signs of things to come: Barely into Day 1 of hearings, Schiff caught lying

Signs of things to come: Barely into Day 1 of hearings, Schiff caught lying
Adam Schiff

Last week a commentator whose name now escapes me said if the public hearings on impeachment garnered lousy ratings that it bodes ill for Democrats. It’s too early to say how many Americans will tune in to what ranking GOP committee member Devin Nunes called a “low-rent, Ukrainian sequel” to the Russia collusion probe, but it’s not too early to predict the direction the hearings appear to be taking.

This morning, shortly after he delivered his opening statement in which he falsely claimed that President Trump had asked his Ukrainian counterpart to “do him a favor” — those words appear nowhere in the transcript — Chairman Adam Schiff was asked about the identity of the so-called “whistleblower.” His response was that he himself did know the man’s identity.

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But as Washington Post “fact checker” Glenn Kessler wrote back in October in response to Schiff’s televised claim that “we have not spoken directly with the whistleblower. We would like to:”

This is flat-out false. Unlike the quick two-step dance he performed with Anderson Cooper, Schiff simply says the committee had not spoken to the whistleblower. Now we know that’s not true.

There are right ways and wrong ways to answer reporters’ questions if a politician wants to maintain his or her credibility. There’s nothing wrong with dodging a question, as long as you don’t try to mislead. …

But Schiff on “Morning Joe” clearly made a statement that was false. … He compounded his falsehood by telling reporters a few days later that if not for the IG’s office, the committee would not have known about the complaint. That again suggested there had been no prior communication.

The explanation that Schiff was not sure it was the same whistleblower especially strains credulity.

Schiff earns Four Pinocchios.

Schiff lied then, and he is lying again now.

Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy has written for The Blaze, HotAir, NewsBusters, Weasel Zippers, Conservative Firing Line, RedCounty, and New York’s Daily News. He has one published novel, Hot Rain, (G. P. Putnam’s Sons), and has been a guest on Radio Vice Online with Jim Vicevich, The Alana Burke Show, Smart Life with Dr. Gina, and The George Espenlaub Show.

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