Tempers fly! Louie Gohmert goes off during hearing, stops Nadler in his tracks with final punch

(Image: CSPAN screenshot)

Rep. Louie Gohmert could not remain silent in the face of the Democrats’ impeachment circus, venting during hearings about the way the proceedings were being handled.

The Texas Republican spoke up during Monday’s hearing and accused Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler of ignoring the rules when he allowed “witnesses to ask the questions.”

(Video: CSPAN)

The heated exchange came after Democratic counsel Barry Berke, who had just served as a witness for Democrats earlier, began questioning the Republican counsel for the Intelligence Committee, Steve Castor.

“I’ve been a judge and I know that you don’t get to be a witness and a judge in the same case,” Gohmert said after multiple Republican lawmakers attempted to stop the proceedings and have Nadler recognize the issue. The Democrat shot them down each time, wielding his gavel and repeatedly saying their “point of order” was not recognized as he ignored GOP objections.

Gohmert had enough after Berke’s line of questioning led him to ask Castor about President Trump’s state of mind toward former Vice President Joe Biden.

“Did you look at how many times president mentioned Vice President Biden in a speech, rally leading up to the July 25th call?” he asked.

“Mr. Chairman, pardon me,” Gohmert interjected.

“The gentleman is not recognized,” Nadler replied. “Mr. Berke has the time.”

“We’re going to ignore the rules, allow witnesses to ask the question, then how many other rules are you going to just disregard?” Gohmert asked.

“Gentleman will suspend. Parliamentary inquiries are not in order,” the chairman announced.

“This is not appropriate to have a witness be a questioner of somebody that was a witness when he was,” the Texas lawmaker continued, as Nadler banged his gavel. “It’s just wrong.”

“There is no rule or precedent for anybody being a witness and then getting to come up and question,” Gohmert added.

“The point of order is he’s not appropriate to be up here asking questions,” he said as Nadler declared, “It’s not a point of order.”

The New York Democrat had cited House Resolution 660 and said “the gentleman has been appointed by me to ask questions.”

A clearly frustrated Gohmert then exclaimed, “how much money do you have to give to get to do that?”

“The gentleman will not cast aspersions on members or staff of the committee,” Nadler shot back.

GOP Rep. Mike Johnson had also raised a point of order, saying Berke was “presenting his opinions as a witness” and not  “present[ing] the material facts of the report.”

“We operate by rules,” Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs noted. “And if there’s nothing in the rules specifically permitting this we go by precedent. It is unprecedented for a person to come and sit who you’ve described as a witness to then return to the bench and begin questioning.”

CNN’s Manu Raju reported that Gohmert left the House Judiciary Committee hearing room after Daniel Goldman, a committee attorney for Democrats, testified about Rudy Giuliani’s recent trip to Ukraine.

“President Trump’s continuing effort … is a clear and present danger to our national security,” Goldman reportedly said as the Texas Republican left the room.

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