Rep. Lee Zeldin: Impeachment inquiry has been 'deranged'
New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin says Rep. Adam Schiff is 'cherry-picking' what he decides to leak from the impeachment probe's closed-door testimony.
House Democrats' vote to move forward with the impeachment inquiry into President Trump was more about honoring an "enraged activist liberal base" than the Constitution, Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., said Saturday.
Appearing on "Fox & Friends: Weekend" with host Pete Hegseth, Zeldin said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the decision to appease "part of her conference that essentially rolled her into pursuing this impeachment."
"And, the president is right. It has been a deranged approach," he said.
During a Friday rally in Tupelo, Miss., Trump decried Democrats' pursuit of impeachment.
"First, they engineered the Russia hoax. Then the Mueller witch hunt. And now, corrupt politicians Nancy Pelosi and 'Shifty' Adam Schiff are continuing with the deranged impeachment witch hunt," he said. "Yesterday's vote by the radical Democrats is an attack on democracy itself."
Pelosi said in Philadelphia on Friday that the impeachment inquiry isn't about the president's "personality or his policies."
"That's for the elections to decide. This is about our honoring our oath of office about whether he's honoring his oath of office to protect and defend the constitution...The rule of law is a republic. The rule of one person is a monarchy," she said.
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But Zeldin, a stanch defender of Trump, blasted Democrats for leaks and falsehoods.
"Adam Schiff's strategy has been to cherry-pick leaks. He withholds key facts and he outright lies, and that's why the transcripts need to be released so that we have the full story," Zeldin said.
He accused Democrats of leaking to the press anything "they believe can be spun in their favor," including the testimony of Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. He called for the release of full transcripts from impeachment inquiry interviews, which Schiff has promised to do as early as next week.
"What you'll learn from the transcripts would be the rest of the story," Zeldin said.
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