Trump invents fake Nancy Pelosi quotes in order to discredit impeachment push
An increasingly frustrated and cornered President Trump continued his pushback against the impeachment inquiry unfolding against him on Monday morning, this time by concocting imaginary statements from House Speaker Pelosi.
His latest defensive push to control the media narrative is focused on accusing the Democrats of deliberately misrepresenting the contents of the call transcripts released by the President and of using a falsified whistleblower report to gin up charges against him.
In a recent interview with right-wing radio host Dan Bongino, the president said that “all hell” had broken loose on the Democrat side when he released a transcript of a call between himself and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Putting words in Speaker Pelosi’s mouth, he claimed that he heard that Pelosi had “blasted” her fellow Democrats and said “You can’t impeach a man on this call!”
Trump keeps adding details to his imaginary tale about Pelosi being furious when she saw how underwhelming the text of Trump's call was.
In an interview with Dan Bongino, Trump said, "I've heard that Nancy Pelosi blasted them. She said, 'You can't impeach a man on this call!'" pic.twitter.com/G1kKMOqwMx
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 18, 2019
Obviously, that assertion is ridiculous and entirely without evidence. In reality, Pelosi’s office issued what CNN reporter Daniel Dale described as a “scathing” public statement.
This will be the fifth time Trump has put words in her mouth.
Pelosi issued a scathing public statement upon the release of the call document. There is no evidence she privately said it was exculpatory or underwhelming. Trump has now invented five fictional quotes from her. https://t.co/NyBhCUSIG7
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 18, 2019
It is at once slightly amusing and deeply disturbing to see the President of the United States openly making up preposterous lies in order to try to undermine the impeachment inquiry that his own impulsivity and carelessness is responsible for. While it’s unclear how effective his lies are going to be, since it’s not likely former NRA TV host Dan Bongino has that large a following, it’s still a sharp reminder that nothing the President says or does can ever be taken at face value.
We need to be ready to respond as he inevitably grows more desperate as the proceedings unfold and the evidence of his already obvious guilt becomes ironclad.
