Republicans interrupt impeachment hearing after just 7 seconds

Democrats’ fears of GOP antics were proved to be legitimate, as Republican lawmakers began interrupting Wednesday’s impeachment hearing into Donald Trump seven seconds after it began.

The first interruption came from Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who cut off House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY), to demand that Republicans get their own day of hearings in the impeachment process.

“I am furnishing you with a demand for a minority day of hearings on this subject signed by all of the Republican members,” said Sensenbrenner, who is retiring when his term expires in 2020.

Nadler shut down Sensenbrenner’s interruption.

After opening statements from both Nadler and Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking Republican on the committee who did not speak to any of the facts of impeachment and instead complained about process, Republicans continued their interruptions.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) — a Trump defender who tried and failed to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) — demanded to know the rules of the hearing in a confusing moment that just sought to delay the proceedings.

“We will apply the rules, period,” said Nadler, who told his Democratic colleagues prior to the hearing that was not going to “take any shit” from Republicans.

Republicans again tried to interrupt, when the first witness began speaking, but again, Nadler shut them down.

This is the GOP’s promised tactic to defend Trump, Politico reported Tuesday, trying to delay and stymie the impeachment proceedings with “a series of procedural roadblocks” rather than arguing against the facts, which suggest that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine in order to force the country into investigating his rivals for personal political gain.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.