Chairman Adam Schiff (L) (D-Calif.) and Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) at one of the public impeachment hearings of the House intelligence committee. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) - By Thursday, the third day of the public impeachment inquiry, Democrats were claiming that U.S. military aid flowed to Ukraine on September 11, only because President Trump "got caught" in his alleged quid pro quo when a whistle-blower came forward.

But who got caught? Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the House intelligence committee, asked in his opening statement. Democrats did, he explained:

Nunes noted that temporary holds on foreign aid happen "fairly frequently" for different reasons. "So how do we have an impeachable offense here when there is no actual misdeed and no one even claiming to be a victim?" he asked.

"The Democrats have tried to solve this dilemma with a simple slogan, 'he got caught.' President Trump, we are to believe, was just about to do something wrong and getting caught was the only reason he backed down from whatever nefarious thought crime the Democrats are accusing him of almost committing."

But, Nunes argued, "For the last three years it's not President Trump who got caught, it's the Democrats who got caught."

They got caught falsely claiming they had more than circumstantial evidence that Trump colluded with Russians to hack the 2016 election. They got caught orchestrating this entire farce with the whistle-blower and lying about their secret meetings with him. They got caught defending the false allegations of the Steele dossier, which was paid for by them. They got caught breaking their promise that impeachment would only go forward with bipartisan support because of how damaging it is to the American people. They got caught running a sham impeachment process featuring secret depositions, hidden transcripts, and an unending flood of Democrat leaks to the media. They got caught trying to obtain nude photos of President Trump from Russian pranksters pretending to be Ukrainians. And they got caught covering up for Alexandra Chalupa, a Democratic National Committee operative who colluded with Ukrainian officials to smear the Trump Campaign by improperly redacting her name from deposition transcripts and refusing to let Americans hear her testimony as a witness in these proceedings. That is the Democrats' pitiful legacy in recent years. They got caught. Meanwhile, their supposed star witness testified he was guessing that President Trump was tying Ukrainian aid to investigations despite no one telling him that was true. And the president himself explicitly telling him the opposite -- that he wanted nothing from Ukraine. Ladies and gentlemen, unless the Democrats once again scramble their kangaroo court rules, today's hearing marks the merciful end of this spectacle in the impeachment committee, formerly known as the intelligence committee. Whether the Democrats reap the political benefit they want from this impeachment remains to be seen. But the damage they have done to this country will be long-lasting. With this wrenching attempt to overthrow the president, they have pitted Americans against one another and poisoned the mind of fanatics who actually believe the entire galaxy of bizarre accusations they have leveled against the president since the day the American people elected him. I sincerely hope the Democrats end this affair as quickly as possible so our nation can begin to heal the many wounds it has inflicted on us. The people's faith in government and their belief that their vote counts for something has been shaken. From the Russia hoax to the shoddy Ukrainian sequel, the Democrats got caught. Let's hope they finally learn a lesson, give their conspiracy theories a rest, and focus on governing for a change.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), speaking to Fox News's Sean Hannity Wednesday night, also addressed the Democrats' "he got caught" explanation for why President Trump finally released military aid to Ukraine on September 11.

Graham said it was increasing pressure from Republicans and Democrats that prompted Trump to release the aid:

"Donald Trump wouldn't be giving the Ukraine a dime of aid today unless myself, (Sen.) Ron Johnson, (Sen.) Rob Portman and others pushed the issue," Graham said.

"I was willing to vote with Dick Durbin to turn the aid back on, on September 11th, because I thought the Ukrainians needed the aid and I trusted the new president. And then, and only then, did they turn the aid on," Graham said.

"He's been this way the whole time. With everybody. You know why he wouldn't do a quid pro quo? Because he would be locked into giving aid to a country that he thought was corrupt."





