Republican California Rep. Devin Nunes took direct aim at House Democrats as he delivered his opening statement in Thursday’s impeachment hearing on Capitol Hill.
The House Intelligence Committee’s ranking member argued that, even as Democrats continued to insist that President Donald Trump had been “caught” either executing or attempting to execute some nefarious scheme, “it’s the Democrats who got caught.” (RELATED: Devin Nunes Blasts Impeachment Hearing As ‘Low-Rent Ukrainian Sequel’ To ‘Russia Hoax’)
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“Throughout these bizarre hearings, the Democrats have struggled to make the case that President Trump committed some impeachable offense on his phone call with President Zelensky,” Nunes began, going on to illustrate the constantly changing narrative. “The offense itself changes depending on the day ranging from quid pro quo, to extortion, to bribery, to obstruction of justice, then back to quid pro quo.”
“It’s clear why the Democrats have been forced onto this carousel of accusations,” Nunes continued, noting that there was reason to be concerned that Ukraine had also had a hand in meddling in the 2016 presidential election and adding that the aid in question was eventually released.
Nunes explained, “The aid was resumed without the Ukrainians taking the actions they were supposedly being coerced into doing. Aid to Ukraine under President Trump has been much more robust than it was under President Obama. Thanks to the provision of Javelin anti-tank weapons. As numerous witnesses have testified, temporary holds on foreign aid occur frequently for many different reasons, so how do we have an impeachable offense here when there’s no actual misdeed and no one claiming to be a victim?”
Nunes then asserted that the Democrats had attempted to reduce the entire process down to one “simple slogan: he got caught.”
“President Trump, we are to believe, was just about to do something wrong and getting caught was the only reason he backed down from whatever nefarious thought crime the Democrats are accusing him of almost committing,” Nunes continued.
“It’s not President Trump who got caught. It’s the Democrats who got caught,” Nunes then listed the infractions he believed the Democrats t be guilty of committing.
- They got caught falsely claiming they had more than circumstantial evidence that Trump concluded with Russians to hack the 2016 election.
- They got caught orchestrating this entire farce with the whistle-blower and lying about their secret meetings with him.
- They got caught defending the false allegations of the Steele dossier which was paid for by them.
- They got caught breaking their promise that impeachment would only go forward with bipartisan support because of how damaging it is to the American people.
- They got caught running a sham impeachment process featuring secret depositions, hidden transcripts, and an unending flood of Democrat leaks to the media.
- They got caught trying to obtain nude photos of President Trump from Russian pranksters pretending to be Ukrainians.
- And they got caught covering up for a Democratic National Committee operative who colluded with Ukrainian officials to smear the Trump campaign by improperly redacting her name from deposition transcripts and refusing to let Americans hear her testimony as a witness in these proceedings.
“That is the Democrats’ pitiful legacy in recent years. They got caught,” Nunes concluded.