Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said in his opening statement at the House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearing on Thursday that it is not President Donald Trump who got “caught” taking part in nefarious behavior and listed the seven times this was the case.

“The Democrats have tried to solve this dilemma with a simple slogan: ‘He got caught!’” Nunes said. “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.”

“I once again urge Americans to consider the credibility of the Democrats on this committee who are now hurling these charges,” Nunes said. “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 the Russians to hack the 2016 elections.

They got caught orchestrating this entire farce with the Whistleblower and lying about their secret meetings with him.

They got caught defending the false allegations of the Steele dossier, which was paid for by the Democrats.

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.

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.

Nunes noted that this is the last schedule hearing of the “Impeachment Committee” and called for a change in priorities in Congress.

“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,” Nunes said. “The people’s faith in government, and their belief that their vote counts for something, has been shaken.”

“From the Russia hoax to this shoddy Ukrainian sequel, the Democrats got caught,” Nunes said. “Let’s hope they finally learn a lesson, give their conspiracy theories a rest, and focus on governing for a change.”

Thursday’s hearing focused on testimony from Fiona Hill, a former National Security Council senior director for Europe and Russia, and David Holmes, an aide to the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine.

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