GOP Lawmaker Blasts Schiff Over Coziness with Pranksters Offering Trump Dirt

A prank call from January 2018 was dug up by Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz. The prank call was between House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff and two Russian radio hosts pretending to be Andriy Parubiy, the former speaker of Ukraine's parliament.

In the call, Schiff said he would be willing to accept dirt on Trump from the Ukrainian.

Russian radio hosts Vladimir “Vovan” Kuznetzov and Alexey “Lexus” Stolyarov told Schiff that Kremlin had naked photos of Trump and they, as “Parubiy,” have audio of Sobchak and Buzova discussing the photos. They told Schiff that Michael Flynn, former Trump national security advisor, “had met with another Russian to talk about how to prevent the photos from going public.”

In the short clip tweeted by Gaetz, it is seen that Schiff was asking the pranksters “So, you have recordings of both [Russian journalist Ksenia] Sobchak and [Russian model and singer Olga] Buzova where they're discussing the compromising material on Mr. Trump?” One of the pranksters responded with “absolutely.”

Gaetz accused Schiff of hypocrisy. Schiff’s office, however, said they did not simply and easily trust the pranksters – even though Schiff did not appear to question the pranksters’ authenticity. According to a Schiff spokesman, “before agreeing to take the call, and immediately following it, the committee informed appropriate law enforcement and security personnel of the conversation, and of our belief that it was probably bogus.”

As for President Trump, he called for the arrest of Schiff for treason, for “falsifying parts of Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine.” According to a tweet by Trump, “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.”

When Rep. Mike Turner noticed that what Schiff was saying during a hearing did not match the readout of the call, Schiff said it was “meant to be at least part in parody.” He explicitly said that he was trying to describe “the essence” of Trump’s message, trimming its rambling character and in not so many words.

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Trump wants Schiff to be questioned for fraud and treason as Schiff “made up what I actually said by lying to Congress.”

Sources:
• https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-rep-digs-up-audio-of-schiff-saying-he-would-accept-dirt-on-trump-from-ukrainian-politician-in-prank-call
• https://thebl.com/politics/president-trump-schiff-should-be-arrested-for-treason.html
• https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2019/sep/30/context-adam-schiffs-dramatized-version-trump-zele/