Trump bitterly complains he’s not allowed a lawyer for impeachment despite not needing one
Donald Trump is proving completely incapable of handling his ongoing impeachment inquiry with anything even approaching baseline competence. His administration has switched talking points so many times that it’s impossible to keep track of what they want us to believe, with the net effect being that there is no cohesive defensive narrative coming from the White House. The president and his minions are increasingly relying on vague confusing smears and insistences that the entire process is a hoax.
This morning, Trump took to Twitter to lob an attack at his avowed enemy Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) or as our incredibly childish president referred to him “Shifty Adam Schiff.” Trump accused him of releasing “doctored transcripts” which seems to be just the latest mutation of his complaint about the way in which Schiff explained the transcript of Trump’s infamous Ukraine call. The president says that Schiff lied and made up the contents when all Schiff really did was interpret it and explain the subtext.
The president appears to be expanding this original conspiracy theory to now say that Schiff is also editing the testimony transcripts of impeachment witnesses, which is patently untrue. The more Trump fabricates nonsense like this the clearer it is that he has no real way to defend himself.
President Trump went on to complain that he is “restricted” from “having a lawyer,” which of course he is not. Trump has the same access to an attorney that every American does. He doesn’t have an attorney representing him in these impeachment hearings because this is not a trial yet. Impeachment is a political process and it’s not until it passes the House and he is put on trial in the Senate that Trump will need an attorney, at which point he will have one. The president either doesn’t understand how impeachment works or more likely he’s just lying once again to muddy the waters around perfectly legitimate proceedings.
Trump also floated the idea of having the Republicans “put out their own transcripts” which sounds an awful lot like he’s considering releasing fake documents to further confuse the American people as impeachment proceeds. He rounded out his ignorant message by bringing up the abovementioned incident during which Schiff read the Ukraine transcript. Trump once again said Schiff “MADE UP a statement,” which is a total mischaracterization of what the Congressman did. All this president has left is lies and they’re becoming more and more pathetic.
Shifty Adam Schiff will only release doctored transcripts. We haven’t even seen the documents and are restricted from (get this) having a lawyer. Republicans should put out their own transcripts! Schiff must testify as to why he MADE UP a statement from me, and read it to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2019
