Rep. Lee Zeldin had enough this morning when one of the reporters asked Republicans why the committees shouldn’t wait to release the transcripts until after all the witnesses had testified. He went on a near five minute tear, rebuking members of the press for playing Adam Schiff’s game and you can watch that below. It’s epic. (It’s cued up to 13:42 where it begins):
“There’s an argument against transparency?”, Zeldin asks incredulously.
“There’s an argument in favor of cherry-picking selective releases of texts. There’s an argument in favor of only telling the American public what is best in the interest of wanting to take down a sitting president. Maybe you should ask what was said inside of Volker’s deposition, during his transcribed interview, with regard to Adam Schiff’s fairy tale quid pro quo charge, that aid from the United States to the Ukraine was being linked to an investigation into the Bidens. Why don’t you ask what did Ambassador Volker say about that?”
Zeldin proceeds to answer his own question, enlightening the media as to what was actually said by Volker, namely that he testified that Zelensky had no idea there was a hold on US aid at the time of the July call and that there was never any mention of a hold on the US aid or a quid pro quo in the readouts he received on the call. And the next day, when he met with Zelensky, Volker testified there was never any mention of US aid or any quid pro quo. Nor was it ever mentioned by any Ukrainian officials in the subsequent weeks after the meeting.
Zeldin scolds the media for playing along with Adam Schiff, telling them that he’s misleading them about this entire affair.
Zeldin also clears up something that happened on CNN. He said that CNN’s Erin Burnett had on Gerry Connolly after the meeting and that she asked him about some of these statements made by Republicans. But Connolly said he didn’t hear any of that. Zeldin said there’s a reason for that, explaining that Connolly “was the last person to show up and was the first one to leave, instantly!” Zeldin says “he wasn’t there for any of it”.
That’s just some of what was said in Zeldin’s epic takedown of the media. Watch the video for more…