House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said Republicans can get a vote on impeaching Rod Rosenstein with or without the help of Speaker Paul Ryan.

A guest Wednesday night on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle," Meadows, R-N.C., told host Laura Ingraham that Ryan is a bystander in their effort to impeach the deputy attorney general - provided they have the votes.

“Certainly we hope that it doesn’t have to come to that,” Meadows told Ingraham. “But, it doesn't require consent from the speaker. What we put in today was non-privileged, it goes in, gets referred to the Judiciary Committee.

"But starting (Thursday), we can bring it up as a privileged motion. It would require a vote on the House floor within two days," Meadows said. "That’s something that any member of Congress, Jim or I can do.

"And quite frankly, it’s either we hold him in contempt or we get the documents or we impeach him. The only thing we have control over is the ability to bring impeachment straight to the floor," Meadows said.

Getting the votes is another matter. Though House conservatives are a formidable bloc to stifle legislation, their numbers aren't enough to push through legislation either. They would need help, which will be hard to come by from moderate Republicans, still seething over the immigration vote they were promised that never happened.

The imbroglio with Rosenstein has, for the most part, been waged on the conservative side of the House.