Adam Schiff's 'parody' opens Trump team's defense at impeachment trial (cue blue check media firefighter brigade assisting Dems with spin)

As the defense for President Trump began their arguments before the Senate today, one of the first videos played was of Rep. Adam Schiff’s “parody” of the Ukraine call during a House impeachment hearing:

WH defense team playing a clip of Schiff's #Ukraine phone call parody – "That's fake. That's not the real call," says Mike Purpura.

— Katherine Gypson (@kgyp) January 25, 2020

Deputy Counsel to the President Mike Purpura following video clip of @RepAdamSchiff: "That's fake. That's not the real call. That's not the evidence here."

Full video: https://t.co/OZkWUFBtfB pic.twitter.com/O7M52Y2JOF

— CSPAN (@cspan) January 25, 2020

President Trump's lawyer calls out Adam Schiff on #impeahcment

"That's fake. That's not the real call." pic.twitter.com/oLcwOE81c5

— MRCTV.org (@mrctv) January 25, 2020

The Democrats can be sure that some in the media will come to the aid of Schiff when it comes to this:

Can't wait to see the media coverage of this ?? https://t.co/cznNjlHerl

— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) January 25, 2020

A glance at some of the blue check reaction offers some clues. For starters, here’s a CNN legal analyst who came to the defense of Schiff:

Ok, everyone more or less agrees Schiff shouldn't have done the parody / dramatic version of the transcript. But every sentient being also fully understands he was doing a parody / dramatic version of it. (He even said so). So enough with the righteous indignation over it.

— Elie Honig (@eliehonig) January 25, 2020

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How will the media spin the opening of Trump’s defense? We’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count.

Trump’s team quickly invoked Schiff’s exaggerated “parody”/paraphrase rendition of the call with Zelensky. Here’s my breakdown of what Schiff got right and what he stretched and added: https://t.co/t8LOFvhJI3

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 25, 2020

I compared how off-base Schiff's paraphrasing of that July 25th call was with the rough transcript … he paraphrased it accurately.

Trump lawyers now bringing this up in the first few minutes of their opening arguments. https://t.co/nTpGIWjJnN pic.twitter.com/JGcwN7xd9v

— Amber Phillips (@byamberphillips) January 25, 2020

"This is the essence" of the call, Schiff says before offering his parody of the July 25 conversation

"That's fake," Trump's attorney Mike Purpura says. https://t.co/fTDeggvpEl

— Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) January 25, 2020

And their Exhibit One is Schiff's mocking summary of the call. This is pathetic.

— Jonathan Bernstein (@jbview) January 25, 2020

Unsurprising but ridiculous nonetheless, Trump’s team is taking issue with how Schiff described Trump’s phone call. It’s shocking how truly stupid trump and the people around him are.

— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) January 25, 2020

I cannot believe the Republicans are leading with Adam Schiff’s exaggerated parody of the transcript. They really do have nothing, do they?

— Max Weiss (@maxthegirl) January 25, 2020

Today’s Senate trial is expected to end early in the afternoon and pick back up on Monday. The liberal media will have a short break which will help when it comes to coordinating talking points about what unfolded today.