At the start of Wednesday’s public impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives, House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) pointedly insulted the two witnesses: top Ukrainian diplomat Bill Taylor and senior State Department official George Kent.

“Ambassador Taylor and Mr. Kent, I’d like to welcome you here,” Nunes snarked. “I would like to congratulate you for passing the Democrats’ star chamber auditions held for the last weeks in the basement of the capitol. It seems you agreed witting or unwittingly to participate in a drama. But the main performance, a Russia hoax, has ended, and you’ve been cast in the low-rent Ukrainian sequel.”

Elsewhere in his prepared remarks, Nunes declared that “elements of the FBI, the Departments of Justice, and now the State Department have lost the confidence of millions of Americans who believe that their vote should count for something.” He concluded: “It will take years, if not decades, to restore faith in these institutions.”