Rep. Doug Collins says Democrats' impeachment 'document dump' is an effort to deflect from their weak case
Democrats are taking potshots to try and shore up an impeachment case that should never have gone forward, says Georgia Congressman Doug Collins, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.
Republican Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., said Tuesday that a trove of documents released hours before the House is set to vote to send the articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate is a "last-minute desperation move" by House Democrats to salvage their "weak" case.
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"They know that they have a weak case," Collins said Tuesday on "Hannity." "We've shown that they have a weak case. We know the president did nothing wrong ... we proved that."
House investigators announced earlier Tuesday that Lev Parnas, a close associate of President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, had turned over a series of handwritten notes, text messages and other documents.
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In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., wrote that he would transmit to Nadler two flash drives: one containing "call records with sensitive personal information" that will not be publicly released, and another with materials provided by Parnas.
Collins said he trusts that Attorney General William Barr will "handle" Parnes -- who was indicted on federal campaign finance violations -- and accused Democrats of pulling the last minute stunt to "deflect from the weak case they are going to send to the Senate tomorrow."
"This president did nothing wrong," Collins reiterated. "This president stood strong for America and all they're trying to do is take potshots at the end to shore up a case that should have never gone forward to start with."
Collins said he looks forward to the Senate trial, where he claimed House impeachment managers will "show the American people again that they have no basis."
"It's been nothing but a hatchet job for over three years," Collins said. "What is so pathetic right now, is that we have done absolutely nothing in the House of Representatives for the last two weeks, and now, they have hailed these documents trying to make a case and send them over at the last minute to make these arguments."
"No, the House did not do their job, because all they had in mind was getting at this president who did nothing wrong," Collins concluded.
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Parnas was deeply involved in efforts by Giuliani to press Ukraine's leaders to open an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Trump's temporary withholding of U.S. military aid to the war-torn country is at the heart of the two impeachment articles approved by the House without any Republican votes.
Fox News' Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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