GOP’s Doug Collins hints to Fox & Friends that Republicans will try to smother impeachment inquiry

The ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee insisted there was no formal impeachment inquiry, signaling a possible effort to thwart one by GOP lawmakers.

Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) appeared Wednesday morning on "Fox & Friends" to attack his Democratic colleagues as they embark on a constitutional process to hold President Donald Trump accountable for his alleged wrongdoing.

"It's going to be known by chaos Congress, run by a speaker who is not a leader, she's a follower of AOC she's follower of her committee," Collins said. "What's happening here is nothing but the perpetration fiction of the voters of America. They cannot stand the fact that he's leading, that he's actually doing stuff for our country and they can't defeat that."

Collins hinted that Republicans would attempt a procedural maneuver to block a vote on an inquiry in the Judiciary Committee, where impeachment begins, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced one would be launched.

"They have to come up with fiction that they're in an impeachment inquiry," he said. "If I see one more reporter say that we've started an impeachment inquiry, I just want to scream, because we've not started anything. In fact, she even told her caucus yesterday, we were told, really nothing has changed but we are going to keep pushing the narrative. That's not leadership, that's advocating."

Co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Collins to explain why the impeachment inquiry was "fiction."

"There is no impeachment inquiry," Collins said. "If she wants to do it she needs to bring it to the floor. If she is not going to bring it to the floor, quit telling the American public you are doing something."