The transcript of President Donald Trump's call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky shows that Trump was telling the truth about their conversation all along, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not, Rep. John Ratcliffe said Wednesday.
"The president knew what was on that transcript," the Texas Republican said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
"The rest of us didn't. We were told by the Democrats what it was going to be."
Ratcliffe said Pelosi, in her announcement about launching a formal impeachment inquiry, talked of collusion and conspiracy, but once the transcript was released on Wednesday, it showed that Trump had told the truth when he said he did not push Zelensky to investigate Biden in exchange for releasing U.S. military aid.
"There is no quid pro quo," said Ratcliffe. "The president never mentioned military aid. There wasn't anything but admiration from President Zelensky for President Trump. It wasn't what the Democrats promised and once again, they came up empty."
Instead, the transcript shows a conversation that should have been allowed to remain outside of public view, said Ratcliffe.
"The Democrats were demanding the president conclusively prove his innocence," said Ratcliffe. "I think he has done that today. He has done so by harming national security through what the Democrats were demanding. These are conversations that shouldn't be made public. But the president had to do that to conclusively determine his, prove his innocence and prevent this impeachment search party from going any further."
It also doesn't matter if Democrats can get the 218 votes on the House floor that they need to proceed with impeaching Trump, said Ratcliffe.
"Folks in the American public that read this transcript know that [Democrats] have been searching for a reason to impeach the president," said Ratcliffe. "They keep coming up empty."