Lee Zeldin Image by Getty Images

By PJ Grisar October 8, 2019

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) is emerging as one of Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) harshest critics as the latter pursues an impeachment inquiry against President Trump. it’s not a storybook kind. Though fairy tales have been invoked.

On Tuesday at the Capitol, Zeldin accused Schiff, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, of forwarding a “Fairy tale quid pro quo charge” between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zeldin was responding to a question from reporters about the Schiff not releasing a transcript from a House hearing with Former United States Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker that occurred last Thursday. Zeldin argued that the transcript is being kept from the public because it would “obliterate” the quid pro quo allegation.

“Adam Schiff is misleading you and you’re playing along with it,” Zeldin told reporters. “When Adam Schiff said for example that President Trump was asking President Zelensky to manufacture dirt on the Bidens, you know what Ambassador Volker testified to? That was absolutely untrue. You know what else Adam Schiff has been saying to you and the American public that was not true? That he had no contact with the whistle-blower.”

Schiff is expected to face censure from House Republicans for both his summary of the transcript and his alleged contact with the whistle-blower, who reached out to an aide of Schiff’s prior to filing his complaint.

PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture fellow. He can be reached at Grisar@Forward.com.

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