Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, used his opening statement to blast the ongoing impeachment inquiry on Monday.
Collins called the impeachment inquiry a "focus group impeachment" since Democrats had changed what they were publicly accusing President Trump of based on polling they had conducted.
"You know there have been famous movements in impeachment as we’ve gone forward. There are famous lines from Nixon like, 'What did the president know and when did he know it.' From the Clinton impeachment, there was, 'I did not have sex with that woman.' What would be known about this one is probably where is the impeachable offense? Why are we here?" Collins asked.
"I tell you, this may become known as the focus group impeachment. Because we don’t have a crime, we don't have anything we can actually pin, and nobody understand really what the majority is trying to do except interfere and basically make sure they believe the president can’t win next year if he’s impeached," he continues. "The focus group impeachment takes words and takes them to people and say, 'How can we explain this better because we don’t have the facts to match it.' A focus group impeachment says, 'You know, we really aren’t working with good facts but need a good PR move.' That’s why we’re here today."
Collins was referring to polling conducted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in House battleground districts and found accusing Trump of bribery was the most compelling description of his conduct.
As a result, Democrats switched to accusing Trump of quid pro quo in his phone call with Ukraine's president to bribery.