Rep. Collins on impeachment: Nadler is a 'political hack' obsessed with getting Trump
Doug Collins reacts to Jerry Nadler saying he wants to impeach AG Bill Barr
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., is more concerned with the impeachment of Attorney General William Barr and "getting at" President Trump than he is with governing and helping the American people, Georgia Republican Congressman Doug Collins accused Thursday.
In an interview on "America's Newsroom" with host Ed Henry, Collins highlighted a testy exchange with a Justice Department (DOJ) whistleblower who admitted during a House Judiciary Committee hearing that he sought to work with House Democrats during the Trump impeachment proceedings.
HOUSE HEARING EXPLODES AS DEMS, WITNESSES ACCUSE BARR OF CHOOSING POLITICS OVER JUSTICE
John Elias, a senior career official in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, was one of two whistleblowers who testified before the Democrat-led committee on alleged politically-motivated overreach at Barr's DOJ. During his testimony, Elias accused his supervisors of improperly investigating mergers involving cannabis companies because of a “personal dislike of the industry.”
Collins, in turn, tossed the question back at Elias, asking about his own political background and whether or not he had considered himself to be nonpartisan at work.
"Only in Jerry Nadler’s world can he be a nonpartisan whistleblower," Collins said of Elias. "He’s not a whistleblower; he’s a political hack. That’s what we saw yesterday. We saw Mr. Zelinsky basically saying the same thing."
The second whistleblower, former DOJ prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky, testified that Barr and senior staffers gave preferential treatment to Roger Stone during sentencing proceedings due to his relationship with Trump.
"Jerry Nadler undoubtedly gets up and he has somewhere in his room -- when he goes and gets ready for the day, he has the word ‘impeachment’ taped to a mirror somewhere. Because that's the only thing he seems to know: impeachment and hearings that do nothing except try to get at President Trump," Collins stated further. "And, so far, he’s failed miserably."
Collins pointed out to Henry that during these trials and attempts to take down the president's administration, Trump has continued to lead.
"It’s sad when the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives is led by a chairman, number one, who seems to have trouble actually honoring proper procedure and protocol on how to do a committee’s work...but then continuing to bring these hacks forward to try to get at the president," he said.
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"It was a sad day yesterday. Again, another sad chapter in the 116th Congress with Chairman Nadler who seems nothing but obsessed with getting at the president instead of doing the real work of our government and helping [the] American people," Collins concluded.
Earlier this year, House Democrats began investigating claims that Barr had engaged in politically-motivated overreach in his position.
Barr is expected to testify before the committee next month.
Fox News' Thomas Barrabi contributed to this report.
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