CNN Admits Trump Was Right About Democrats Misquoting Him in Ukraine Call
For once, CNN was on the side of President Donald Trump as he attacked two Texas-based Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee for misquoting him.
Last week, as the Judiciary Committee was going through its markup of the articles of impeachment against Trump, Reps. Veronica Escobar and Sheila Jackson Lee both departed from the truth in their recounting of what Trump said during a July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymr Zelensky, according to Fox News.
A transcript of the call shows that Trump said, “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot.”
Escobar revised that to make the sentence personal, claiming Trump said, “I want you to do me a favor though.”
Jackson Lee left out the word “us” altogether, saying that Trump said, “I would like you to do a favor though.”
CNN‘s fact-checkers ruled in Trump’s favor.
“Facts First: Trump is correct that the call was misquoted during today’s debate over the articles of impeachment in the House Judiciary committee,” the CNN article stated. (Emphasis in original.)
Trump also lashed out at the two Democrats on Twitter.
“Dems Veronica Escobar and Jackson Lee purposely misquoted my call. I said I want you to do us (our Country!) a favor, not me a favor. They know that but decided to LIE in order to make a fraudulent point! Very sad,” Trump tweeted.
Dems Veronica Escobar and Jackson Lee purposely misquoted my call. I said I want you to do us (our Country!) a favor, not me a favor. They know that but decided to LIE in order to make a fraudulent point! Very sad.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019
Trump has bristled at Democrats who misinterpret his words on the call.
Read the Transcripts! “us” is a reference to USA, not me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2019
Very dishonest pols! https://t.co/N12Q4RcHuH
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019
On Friday, Trump attacked the Judiciary Committee for approving the articles of impeachment against him and Democrats who changed his words, according to a White House media pool report.
“I watched these Democrats on the committee make fools out of themselves. Absolute fools out of themselves. And I also saw them quoting, all the time, incorrectly. They kept saying ‘me.’ It wasn’t about me, it was about us. The word was ‘us.’ So, they would — kept saying ‘me’ instead ‘us.’ ‘Can you do “us” a favor?’ ‘Our country,’ comma, ‘our country,'” Trump said.
“For these people to say ‘me’ — they would say ‘me.’ ‘You said, “Do me a favor.” No, it didn’t say that. It said, ‘Do us a favor — our country.’ Talking about the past election. Talking about corruption,” Trump said.
“It’s a witch hunt. It’s a sham. It’s a hoax. Nothing was done wrong. Zero was done wrong. I think it’s a horrible thing to be using the tool of impeachment, which is supposed to be used in an emergency. And it would seem many, many, many years apart,” Trump said.
“To be using this for a perfect phone call, where the president of that country said there was no pressure whatsoever — didn’t even know what we were talking about. It was perfect; the relationship is perfect. I’ve done much more for them than Obama did for them. It’s a scam. It’s something that shouldn’t be allowed. And it’s a very bad thing for our country,” he said.
Trump said that impeachment should be more than a political weapon.
“And you’re trivializing impeachment. And I tell you what: Someday there’ll be a Democrat president and there’ll be a Republican House, and I suspect they’re going to remember it,” he said.
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