"I'm insulted": Stanford law witness rebukes Collins in opening statement

Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan, one of the legal scholars called by Democrats to testify in the House Judiciary Committee's first impeachment hearing on Wednesday, hit back at ranking member Doug Collins (R-Ga.) for suggesting that she is a partisan who doesn't care about the "facts" of the case against President Trump.

"Everything I know about our Constitution and its values, and my review of the evidentiary record — and here Mr. Collins, I would like to say to you sir, that I read transcripts of every one of the witnesses who appeared in the live hearing, because I would not speak about these things without reviewing the facts. So I'm insulted by the suggestion that as a law professor I don't care about the facts. But everything I read on those occasions tells me that when President Trump invited, indeed demanded, foreign involvement in our upcoming election, he struck at the very heart of what makes this a republic to which we pledge allegiance."

The big picture: In his opening statement, Collins complained that the committee's first hearing had not called any fact witnesses and was relying on constitutional scholars called by Democrats to discuss the basis for impeachment. Karlan has been criticized by Republicans for having a bias against Trump, but she rejected that argument by citing the "evidentiary record" before the committee, which she said shows that the president solicited foreign election interference for his own political gain.

Go deeper:

• Read the witnesses' full opening statements
• Read Collins' opening statement
• Read Chairman Nadler's opening statement