Donald Jr. calls Adam Schiff 'Jussie Smollett of Congress' for his 'parody' summary of Trump's call to Ukraine president
President Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., on Thursday, referred to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) as the 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett, alleging that the lawmaker was a habitual liar. Trump Jr., while talking to Fox News' Sean Hannity, said that Schiff's 'parody' summary to Congress of Trump's phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskywas not challenged by mainstream media outlets.
Trump Jr added that if he had read the same parody before Congress, he would be imprisoned. Schiff is "basically the Jussie Smollett of Congress on steroids.” The president's son was making a reference to Smollet being accused of staging a hoax hate crime in an attempt to advance his career. Although Chicago prosecutors dropped the charges against him, many continue to believe that he staged the attack on him.
“If I lied even a little bit in front of those guys like Adam Schiff has lied to the American people, and in front of Congress the other day, they’d throw me in jail for perjury,” Trump Jr. claimed. “Adam Schiff has never been afraid of a microphone. He has never met a camera he didn’t love, and frankly, he has never met a camera he didn’t lie to," Trump Jr. alleged.`
The congressman, after reading out a parody version of the controversial Trump Ukraine call, last week had stated that what he read "was meant to be, at least part, in parody.” The president's son also said that if a Republican chairman had read a similar account as Schiff's, media outlets "would rip them apart for days to end." “The American people see it—they get it,” he said, adding that Democrats “haven’t done anything in three years. The reality is this: they hate Trump more than they love America.”
Trump Jr's comments come in the wake of an impeachment inquiry initiated against his father. The inquiry was launched after a whistleblower lodged a formal complaint alleging that the president had sought "favor" from Zelensky to probe Biden. The claim was confirmed after the White House released a transcript of a conversation between Trump and the Ukrainian leader.