Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins responded to New York Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler’s opening of the House Judiciary Committee’s start of their impeachment inquiry with fire.

He scorched the representative, and longtime enemy of President Donald Trump, with a blistering opening statement in which he accused him of a partisan impeachment hearing.

Rush Transcript:

We will have a lot of interesting discussions today about the Constitution and other things. We also talked about the Founders. What’s interesting is the chairman talked about the Founders in the quotes. This is why we have the hearing about the Founders being concerned about foreign influence.

What he didn’t quote is founders being really concerned about political impeachment. Because you just don’t like the guy. You never liked him since November of 2016.

The chairman has talked about impeachment since last year when he was elected chairman. Two years on November 17th before he is sworn in as chairman. So don’t tell me this is about new evidence and new things and new stuff.

We might have a new hearing room and mix that aren’t comfortable. This is nothing new, folks. This is sad. So what do we have here today? You know what I’m thinking?

I looked at this, and what is interesting is there’s two things that have become very clear. This impeachment is not really about facts. If it was, I believe other committees would have sent over recommendations for impeachment.

Now they’re picture it on this committee because if it goes badly I think they want to blame Adam Schiff’s committee and CNN for this going bad. They’re already drafting articles, don’t be fooled.

They went after numerous failures, Mueller, emoluments. The American people are failing to see legislative. You know what’s driving this? Two things, it’s called the clock and the calendar, the clock and the calendar, most people in life, what they truly value, you look at their checkbook and their calendar, you know what they value. That’s what this committee values. Time.

They want to do it before the end of the year. Why? Because the chairman said it a few seconds ago, because we’re scared of the elections next year that we’ll lose again. So we got to do this now.

The clock and the calendar are what’s driving impeachment. Not the facts. When we understand this, that’s what the witnesses here will say today. What do we have here today?

What is really interesting over today and for the next few weeks is America will see why most people don’t go to law school. No offense to our professors. But please, really, we’re bringing you in here today to testify on stuff most of you have already written about, all four, for the opinions that we already know out of the classrooms that maybe you are getting ready for finals in, to discuss things that you probably haven’t had a chance, unless are you good on TV and watching the hearings over the last couple weeks, you couldn’t possibly have actually digested the Adam Schiff report from yesterday or the Republican response in any real way.

The American people are going to look at this and say, huh? What are we doing? Because there is no fact witnesses planned for this hearing. That’s an interesting thing.

Next week an ambiguous hearing on the presentation of the other committee that sent us the report and Judiciary Committee which I’m not sure what they want us to present on and nothing else. No plan.

I asked the chairman before we left for Thanksgiving, to stay in touch, let’s talk about what we have, history will shine a bright light on us, starting this morning. Crickets.

Until I asked for a witness the other day and let’s say that didn’t go well. There was no whistleblower. By the way it was proved that he is not or she is not afforded the protection of identity. It’s not in the statute.

It’s something that was discussed by Adam Schiff. We also don’t have Adam Schiff that wrote the report. He said yesterday at the press conference, I’m not going to — I’ll send staff to do that. He’s not going to, but you know to me if he was wanting to, he’d come begging to us.

You know, here’s the problem. It sums it up very simply like this, just 19 minutes afternoon on inauguration day 2017 “The Washington Post” ran the headline to campaign to impeach the president has begun. The man who later become the infamous whistle blower attorney said The coup has started.

Impeachment will start immediately. Al Green said if he doesn’t get rejected he will be elected. Nothing for the judiciary Committee which spent two-and-a-half weeks before this hearing was held under Clinton, two-and-a-half weeks.

We didn’t find your names out until less than 48 hours ago. I don’t know what we’re playing hide the ball on, it’s pretty easy what you are going to say. We can’t even get that straight.

So what are we doing for the next two weeks? I have no idea, the chairman just said an ambiguous hearing on the report. But nothing else. If we’re simply not going to have fact witnesses when we are the rubber stamp hiding out back, the rubber stamp the chairman talked about 20 years ago. What a disgrace to this committee.

To have the committee of impeachment simply take from other entities and rubber stamp it. You see one of the things that I say matter about fact witnesses in actual hearings and having Due Process is by the way, just a couple of months ago, the Democrats got all sort of dressed up if you would and said wear going to have Due Process protection for the president and good fairness throughout this. T

his is the only committee which the president would have a possibility, but no offense to you, the law professors. The president has nothing to ask you. You’re not going to provide anything he can’t read and his attorney versus nothing else…

The American people are watching. They will not forget. You have the votes. You may have the muscle. But you do not have legitimacy of a national consensus. The partisan coup d’etat will go down in infamy in the history of The Nation.