WASHINGTON –– According to California Rep. Devin Nunes, Democrats only want one thing from impeachment proceedings: nude photos of President Trump.

“Of course, Democrats on this very committee negotiated with people they thought were Ukrainians in order to obtain nude pictures of Trump,” the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence committee said Thursday morning at a hearing about the whistleblower complaint against the president.

Nunes' comments were a thinly-veiled dig at House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who was pranked early last year by two Russian comedians claiming to possess naked photos of the president.

At the time, Schiff directed the pranksters –– who posed as members of the Ukrainian Parliament –– to send their photos to the FBI.

Nunes made the comments during his opening statement at a hearing with Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, who is testifying in front of the committee about the whistleblower complaint that prompted Democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry against Trump on Tuesday.

“Once again, the Democrats, their media mouthpieces, and a cabal of leakers are ginning up a fake story with no regard to the monumental damage they’re causing to our public institutions and our trust in government,” Nunes said.

“If the Democrats were really concerned with defending that process, they would have pursued this matter with a quiet, sober inquiry, as we do with all whistleblowers,” he continued. “They don’t want answers. They want a public spectacle.”