During his opening statement at a House Intelligence Committee hearing featuring testimony from acting DNI Joseph Maguire, Rep. Adam Schiff clearly wanted those watching (and the media subsequently reporting what he said) to believe he was reading directly from the call transcript, but instead Schiff was in fact taking liberties — and lots of them:

Adam Schiff is now doing a fictional retelling of the transcript. This is bizarre. — Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 26, 2019

In opening statement, Rep. Schiff makes up dialogue to represent what Trump said to Zelensky. A rough transcript of the president's words exists, and is available, but Schiff's version is more dramatic. pic.twitter.com/f7gS4KIPge — Byron York (@ByronYork) September 26, 2019

Schiff’s reputation as one of the most shameless members of Congress remains untarnished:

The Ukraine Call Transcript was so damning that Adam Schiff had to completely rewrite it and make up quotes that weren’t in it.pic.twitter.com/bkB6RxLFjV — Benny (@bennyjohnson) September 26, 2019

Rep. Schiff re-writes the call transcript for added drama: "I’m going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good, I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand, lots of it, on this and on that, I’m going to put you in touch with people" pic.twitter.com/1rV7BpEN6o — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 26, 2019

Take some liberties with the truth much, Congressman Schiff?

Schiff is a great help to Trump. Always has been. — David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) September 26, 2019

Disinformation alert –> Schiff uses phrase "the essence of what the president communicates" as disclaimer & then MAKES UP ludicrous dialogue followed by 2nd disclaimer "This is in sum and character of what the president was trying to communicate." No, read the transcript. https://t.co/mQyg0tNMqU — Diana West (@diana_west_) September 26, 2019

You must remember that if Democrats can redefine "marriage" and "man" and "woman" then redefining the actual words on a page isn't much of a jump https://t.co/vpilBLLWBu — Peter Ingemi (@DaTechGuyblog) September 26, 2019

Schiff knows that a lot of people watching will think that's actually what the transcript said. It's not. In fact, the WHOLE POINT is that the transcript DOESN'T say what Schiff just said it said. — Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 26, 2019

Schiff knows the media won’t bother to “fact check” what he said. And then, nearly a half hour after his initial BS, Schiff felt compelled to point something out:

Adam Schiff tries to clarify his fake account of President Trump’s call to Ukraine during his opening statement, says it was “parody.” — Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) September 26, 2019

I can't believe what I'm watching right now! When confronted about making up a transcript, Adam Schiff countered "it was meant to be parody." This is a hearing before the UNITED STATES CONGRESS, and Schiff uses parody as a mechanism to completely misconstrue @realDonaldTrump?! — Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) September 26, 2019

Wonder how this hearing would've played had Schiff not set it on fire with that weird 'parody' that forced him twenty minutes later to go on the mic and make clear he was just joking, because it's all a joke. — Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 26, 2019

Man, what an idiotic move that turned out to be from Schiff. Who on earth told him that would be remotely appropriate? — Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 26, 2019

Here’s the video:

Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff (CA) admits that his blatant fabrication of quotes from Trump's Ukraine call was "wrong" after he got called out Schiff claims it was a "parody" Impeachment is a politically polarizing event and Schiff thinks it's just a big joke Absolutely unreal pic.twitter.com/YqcQscCKYt — Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 26, 2019

We also agree that Schiff is a parody of a congressman. But the media will continue to take him seriously.