Meadows says Republican colleagues ‘wrong’ for suggesting Trump’s phone call was inappropriate

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) on Sunday said a pair of his Republican colleagues who took issue with President Trump’s July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president were wrong to suggest there was anything improper in the communication. 

CNN’s Dana Bash asked Meadows on “State of the Union” to respond to Republican Reps. Mac Thornberry (Texas) and Michael Turner (Ohio) calling the phone call at the center of the impeachment inquiry “inappropriate” and “alarming,” respectively.  

“They are wrong,” Meadows said. 

“I was in the depositions,” he said, adding that he was one of only a few House members to attend all the closed-door depositions of witnesses ahead of the public impeachment inquiries. 

“There’s a big difference between what is being alleged … and what actually happened,” Meadows said. 

The impeachment inquiry centers around accusations of a quid pro quo, with Democrats alleging Trump sought to withhold foreign aid to Ukraine in exchange for the country publicly announcing investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Meadows pushed back on the allegations, saying that “aid was never mentioned in the phone call” and that Ukraine “didn’t know” aid was being withheld at the time of the call.

Bash pointed out that Ukraine did know aid was being withheld at the time of the call based on the testimony of Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia.

“I know these facts better than anyone else,” Meadows pushed back. 

“There’s not anything about aid. You know that. Tell the people the truth,” he added. 

“That’s not true,” Bash responded.