White House counselor Kellyanne Conway insisted the American people can trust President Trump more than Rep. Adam Schiff based on how each has acted during the impeachment process.
“The president called for his resignation last week because he can’t be trusted to be honest and credible as he oversees these hearings,” Conway said. “He’s been a partisan and he’s been growing mushrooms having witnesses testify in the dark outside of the view of the public. Contrast that with the most transparent president in history.”
Since Democrats launched their formal impeachment proceedings into Trump, Schiff has been holding closed-door hearings with relevant witnesses after a whistleblower complaint alleged a quid pro quo regarding military aide between Trump and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has said holding the hearings in private is necessary to uphold the integrity of the investigation and protect the whistleblower from retaliation.
“Adam Schiff has no credibility,” Conway said of Schiff. “The last time he delivered an opening statement to the public, to the entire world to see Bill, it was a parody of a conversation between the Ukrainian and Americans president that simply did not exist.”
Congressional Republicans say Schiff should testify under oath for running a partisan and shoddy investigation. Some critics have raised concerns about Schiff’s recruitment of two NSC staffers who worked alongside the whistleblower under Barack Obama’s administration.
Before the whistleblower report was made public, the White House released a transcript of Trump’s call with Ukraine. The transcript shows no explicit quid pro quo between the two leaders but does reveal Trump asked Zelensky to do him a “favor” and investigate corruption allegations related to Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s business dealings.
Transcripts and whistleblower reports aside, Conway says it is Trump’s daily diatribe on Twitter and in the media that makes him most trustworthy.
“He tells you every day what he thinks on any number of topics,” she said. “Through social media, near the helicopter, in pool sprees, on live TV interviews … if [Schiff’s] going to make people raise their right hand and be under oath when they speak, I would politely suggest, what does he have to hide?”
