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WATCH: Nunes’ full opening statement on first day of Trump impeachment hearings

The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee says Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is “a carefully orchestrated media smear campaign.”

Rep. Devin Nunes spoke on Nov. 13 as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Watch in the video player above.

In his opening statement in the first public House impeachment hearing, California Rep. Devin Nunes says Democrats “turned on a dime” after the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and then focused on Ukraine.

He told the hearing’s two witnesses that he would like to welcome them, but said that Americans’ trust in government has been damaged as “elements of the civil service have decided that they, not the president, are really in charge.”

READ MORE: How lessons from the Mueller hearing will guide the impeachment hearings

State Department officials George Kent and William Taylor have told lawmakers they had concerns about Trump’s Ukraine policy.

Nunes said the hearings are “an impeachment process in search of a crime.”