Republican members on the House Judiciary Committee voiced their objections to the Democrats' witness in Monday's impeachment hearing, because he turned into a questioner in the same hearing.
Attorney Barry Berke has been working with the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and testified at the beginning of the hearing on Monday. During his testimony, he laid out the arguments that President Trump's conduct towards Ukraine's president reached the threshold for impeachment.
Towards the afternoon, Berke then appeared on the dais to question the GOP's counsel, Steve Castor. Republicans then engaged in a back and forth with Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY).
"We’re going to ignore the rules, allow witnesses to ask the questions, then how many other rules are you going to just disregard?" Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) asked. "This is not appropriate to have a witness be a questioner of somebody that was a witness when he was. It’s just wrong!"
Nadler repeatedly banged his gavel and insisted the Republicans were out of order.
"The point of order is he’s inappropriate to be up here asking questions," Gohmert continued. "How much money do you have to give to get to do this?"
"The gentleman will not cast dispersions on the staff of the committee," Nadler replied.
"The point of order is this. We operate by rules that there’s nothing specifically in the rule permitting this, we go by precedent. It is unprecedented for a person to come and sit who you’ve described as a witness to then return to the bench then begin questioning. That’s a point of order," Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) explained.