As impeachment inquiry gains steam, Rep. Andy Biggs leads House GOP's pushback

With Democrats honing in on White House officials as part of the impeachment inquiry, Rep. Andy Biggs is leading the Republican effort to attack those directing the probe.

On Wednesday, Biggs, R-Ariz., tried to force the House of Representatives to vote on a GOP-led motion to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who chairs the House Intelligence Committee that is spearheading the investigation of President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine.

Under House rules, the chamber has two days to consider the motion, which is expected to fail in the Democratic-controlled House. Still, it reflects the most organized effort by congressional Republicans to push back against the fast-moving impeachment inquiry.

Biggs' motion grows out of remarks Schiff made in detailing the allegations against Trump and a July phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky during a recent hearing on the whistleblower complaint that sparked the investigation. Schiff paraphrased aspects of the complaint and made factual errors that Biggs and others in the GOP say is coloring the inquiry.

The motion has garnered about 150 Republican co-sponsors, including Arizona's three other GOP members: Reps. Paul Gosar, Debbie Lesko and David Schweikert.

"Mr. Schiff read a false, made-up narrative of a conversation that he reported to be between President Trump and the Ukrainian president. It was absolutely made up and false. I believe to try and deceive the American public," Lesko said.

"The majority does not need the rules to protect its rights because it has the power to vote at any time what it wants to happen. But we follow rules, so that all Americans can be represented, even when they're represented by the minority party," Biggs said. "That's not happening today. That's why we have to introduce this motion to censure. No more secret proceedings. No more Soviet-style proceedings."

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., endorsed Biggs' motion for censure on the House floor. He called the censure resolution "about restoring a process that is fair, objective and fact-based."

Biggs, who took over as chairman of the House Freedom Caucus earlier this month, wrote an op-ed for Fox News, where he said the conduct of Schiff is "lame" and "disingenuous."

"He has abused all the rules of the House. He's deliberately forsworn the precedence of this House, and what he's done is made a mockery of the system," Biggs said in a video posted on his Twitter account. "And he's trying to demean this institution. But he's also trying to prevent President Trump from finishing his term of office."