The House Rules Committee hearing on impeachment was a bit of a snore until Judiciary ranking member Doug Collins gave his testimony. He repeated a lot of his earlier complaints about the impeachment process the Democrats are running, describing it as an unfair, secretive, far-fetched charade. In a series of hearings these past few weeks, Democrats have had a knack for limiting questions, limiting fact witnesses, and refusing to hold minority hearings for Republicans to question their own list of witnesses.
"The way we trashed this process will live on," Collins said on Tuesday.
With the upcoming holidays, he compared the Democrats' impeachment process to "last minute Christmas shopping."
Rep. Doug Collins says the Democrats' inquiry into impeachable offenses was like "last minute Christmas shopping": "They ran and found something" https://t.co/jnHfPByM7P pic.twitter.com/BVn6KwQW8n
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 17, 2019
After Collins got some of his opening arguments out, Rules Chairman Jim McGovern (D-MA) observed that witness Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) had been "scribbling furiously" while Collins was talking.
"Mr. Raskin I saw you scribbling furiously while Collins was testifying I don't know whether there's something you wanted to respond to," McGovern noted.
"Thank you. My friend Mr. Collins speaks very fast so it's hard to keep up with everything he's saying," Raskin quipped.
"That's the slowest I ever talked!" Collins protested. "You got to at least give me credit!"
Raskin went on to claim that Collins's charge that they've heard from no fact witnesses was "a play on words." There were 17 fact witnesses who appeared before the House committees, he noted.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on impeachment on Wednesday. Last week the House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of two articles of impeachment, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. If those sound vague, it's because they are. If voted upon by the full House, it will then go to a Senate trial.
"Let's just cut to the fact, you don't like the guy," Collins said of his Democratic colleagues.