Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) sat in painful silence for a full four seconds after CNN's Alisyn Camerota schooled him on the nature of impeachment inquiries.
During an interview on Monday, Camerota asked Davis if he thought it was appropriate for a president to ask a foreign government to help him investigate his domestic political opponents.
Davis said it was not, but then pivoted to saying that House Democrats didn't have enough evidence at the moment to justify holding an impeachment inquiry based on their knowledge of just the phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"In the end, let's make sure we have the facts," Davis said. "And there's not enough facts to impeach a president."
Camerota proceeded to rip his talking points to shreds by pointing out that the whole point of the impeachment inquiry is to gather those facts.
"Congressman, with all due respect, that's what this investigation is doing, is trying to get the facts," she said. "You know, that's... why they're beginning this inquiry. That's why they're calling witnesses. It's to get the facts. that is the definition of an investigation."
Davis then sat in silence for four seconds before responding with a non-sequitur.
"Well, an impeachment inquiry is a lot different than us exercising our oversight," he said. "And frankly, what it has the potential to do is to shut down progress in Washington."
Watch the video below.
