The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nunes accuses Dems of ‘deceptions’
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, used the first lines of his opening statement to portray the Democratic impeachment inquiry as the evolution of a failed effort to remove Trump for unproved allegations of Russian collusion.
A July hearing with special counsel Robert Mueller, Nunes said, was “the pitiful finale of a threeyear long operation by the Democrats, the corrupt media, and partisan bureaucrats to overturn the results of the 2016 election.”
“They turned on a dime, and now claim the real malfeasance is Republicans’ dealings with Ukraine,” Nunes said.
He went on to accuse Democrats of abuses including “trying to obtain nude pictures of Trump from Russian pranksters who pretended to be Ukrainian officials” and “countless other deceptions large and small that make them the last people on Earth with the credibility to hurl more preposterous accusations at their political opponents.”
‘Hearsay’
Republicans dismissed the testimony of the witnesses as mere “hearsay.” They said the witnesses didn’t provide firsthand knowledge of suspected backdoor dealings on Ukraine and did not speak directly with Trump.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, suggested that Taylor’s understanding was basically a bad game of telephone, in which one person tells a second person something and that second person tells a third person, and so on.
“We’ve got six people having four conversations in one sentence, and this is where you told me you got your clear understanding,” Jordan said.
Taylor and Kent believed their understanding of the phone calls, security aid and other issues were sound, gathered from their own knowledge and conversations with trusted staff.